By Ken Afor
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Bayelsa State has vehemently denounced the intended visit of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, in the State, less than 24 hours to the governorship election on Saturday.
The PDP in a statement issued on Friday said the scheduled visit could heighten the already strained security circumstances in the state.
Mr. Ebiye Ogoli, Publicity Secretary for the PDP, expressed shock that Ganduje intends to visit the state after the conclusion of campaigning by political parties as mandated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at 12:00 am on Thursday, November 9, 2023.
The PDP declared that the APC National Chairman is ineligible to be an international or local observer for the election on Saturday, as well as ineligible to cast his ballot in Bayelsa, since he is a registered voter in the distant Kano State.
He further declared that if Ganduje is present in Bayelsa, it will be evidence to support the claim that the APC have finished planning to manipulate the voting, influence the voters and corrupt the electoral authority.
“Our Party restates our belief that Nigeria deserves better and is in dire need of responsible leaders and statesmen that will move the country on the path of true democracy, peace, progress and accelerated development.
“Our country needs leaders whose actions would stimulate good governance and bequeath moral decency to advance the course of democracy and not those whose stock-in-trade is to steal, kill and destroy during election,” Ogoli said.
He further stated: “In the light of the above, we urge the APC Chairman to shelve his unwholesome visit.
“We remind Mr. Ganduje that there are already security breaches and his visit should not cause more problems that will worsen the already volatile situation.
“We state unequivocally that PDP in Bayelsa will not fold its arms and allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to manipulate the process in the election for governorship.
“As a matter of fact, our party states in clear terms that anyone who attempts to rig or manipulate the election might have to deal with the legitimate wrath of the people.
“The PDP reaffirms that all indices from several Entrance Polls indicate that our candidate, His Excellency, Governor Douye Diri is leading and will sweep the governorship election in all the eight local government areas of the State.”
Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states have all been scheduled for an off-cycle election.
Reports circulated earlier that a clash occurred between the APC and PDP at the Twon-Brass jetty in Brass Local Government Area, and it resulted in PDP Chairman Bara Daniel sustaining a head injury in a skirmish with former council chairman Victor Isaiah.
While INEC had expressed readiness ahead of the election, the various security agencies in the three states have equally assured of safety during and after the exercise.
