All is now set for the off-cycle governorship elections scheduled to hold in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states on Saturday, November 11.

Already, electioneering has reached a feverish pitch in the three states with the candidates of the 18 registered political parties traversing the length and breadth of the states soliciting support and votes.

With just few days to the poll, Sunday Sun reporters went to town in the three states to interact with the major political parties, as well as the accredited election monitoring teams and representatives of civil society organisations.

Indeed, the three dominant parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) together with the other 15 political parties who have candidates in the governorship race said that they are ready for the Saturday poll, adding that they have sold their candidates well enough to the electorate and are hopeful of winning.

Below are blow by blow reports on how the various parties are prepared, what the electorate think about the poll, their expectations and fears.

KOGI

In Kogi State, touted as the Confluence State, 18 political parties are fielding candidates to slug it out with the APC and PDP. They include the Social Democratic Part, (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Action Alliance (AA), among others.

Although the parties have been engaged in serious campaigns across the 239 wards in the state, there are strong indications that the election, as with previous elections in the state, will be marred by violence and political thuggery.

There is palpable fear among the citizens that the election will be the most violent as there are rumours of some political parties secretly stockpiling arms and ammunition, as well as training thugs who they alleged they will give military uniforms to perpetrate evil on the day of the election in conjunction with security agencies.

Even the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), has severally raised the alarm that the election may be violent.

This fear is more real among the electorate who were said to have been subjected to hell when a helicopter was deployed to shoot and kill some people during the 2019 governorship election in the state.

Already, the SDP has been accusing APC, the ruling party, of unleashing terror on its candidate, Muritala Ajaka and his supporters while the ruling party countered with allegations that SDP was promoting ethnic politics and violence.

Faruk Adejoh-Audu, director, Communications Muri/Sam Gubernatorial Campaign Council, told journalists that the campaign office of the SDP in Lokoja had been burnt more than three times with the posters and billboards of its candidate destroyed and razed.

The SDP spokesman also alleged that some APC thugs heavily armed with dangerous weapons attacked the motorcade of the governorship candidate, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka on June 3 in Lokoja, shooting and injuring several persons in the convoy.

A similar attack was unleashed by APC thugs at an SDP rally at Koton Karfi in Kogi LGA on September 29. This led to the death of one person, 10 others sustained injuries while chairs and canopies on the campaign ground were destroyed.

But the spokesman of the APC, who is also the Commissioner for information, Kingsley Fanwo, also accused the SDP thugs of blocking the highway when the SDP candidate visited Koton Karfi to disrupt the passage of the governor who was coming from Abuja, which led to the first fiasco.

Fanwo also said that the SDP rally was not disrupted as claimed, but that the thugs of SDP were the ones who shot a young female supporter of the APC during the rally.

However, of all the major political parties contesting for the election, no party has engaged on more vigorous and comprehensive campaigns than the governorship candidate of Action Alliance, Otunba Olayinka Braimoh, who some pundits say may spring surprises in the election.

Braimoh who claims he has come to spread prosperity and happiness to the people of the state through his STAT initiative expressed hope that with his acceptability across the state, he will win the election.

Dino Melaye of the PDP has also been embarking on a peaceful but intensive campaign, urging his party members to start door-to-door campaign to canvass votes.

Virtually, all the opposition parties are calling on the Federal Government to ensure a free and fair contest where thugs in collaboration with police and other security agencies are not used to suppress their supporters and harass voters on the day of the election.

They also called on the INEC not to allow its staff to be used to compromise the credibility of the election, urging the commission to walk its talk.

IMO

In the last three and half years, the people of Imo State have gone through a rough patch with seeming intractable insecurity and its concomitant effects on the socio-economic life of the people as bandits and the so-called “unknown gunmen” have continued with their reign of terror across the length and breadth of the state.

So, as a result, the off-season election political campaigns have not been exciting like in 2019 where the major candidates namely, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha (PDP), Senator Ifeanyi Ararume (APGA), Ugwumba Uche Nwosu (AA/APC) and Senator Hope Uzodimma (APC) then painted the local government councils red with their campaigns, as there were no-go-areas as is the case now due to insecurity that is widespread in the today.

In the Saturday election, 18 political parties are fielding candidates, but only the standard bearers of the three major parties: PDP, APC and LP are viable to the electorate. They are: the incumbent governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma (APC), Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP) and Senator Athan Achonu (LP).

The two key factors that will determine the outcome of the election are insecurity and the resurrected Imo Charter of Equity, which is seeing both Owerri and Okigwe claiming that it is the turn of their zones while some leaders in the state are saying that Uzodimma should serve out the turn of Orlu zone.

How the major stand in Imo

Senator Anyanwu, who is the current National Secretary of the PDP got the ticket on a platter of gold following the sudden withdrawal of his major rival, Rt. Hon. Ihedioha, who had won the 2019 governorship polls, but was removed from office after seven months by the Supreme Court on January 14, 2020, to pave way for Governor Uzodimma.

The decision of Ihedioha to suddenly jettison his ambition to contest the November 11 gubernatorial polls left the party in a political quandary. That decision led to the exit of many of the loyalists of Ihedioha, as well chieftains of the party, including seven members of the state executive who joined the ruling APC.

However, Senator Anyanwu and his loyalists have remolded the party and made it competitive as they have shown in the course of their campaigns across the length and breadth of the state.

The Campaign Organisation of Senator Samuel Anyanwu popularity known as SamJones is the first to visit all the 305 electoral wards in the 27 local councils of the state with their message of “Making Imo Safe Again.”

Also, going for the PDP is the choice of the Deputy Governorship candidate in the person of Hon. Jones Onyeriri, a three-time member of the Federal House of Representatives who is extremely popular in the Orlu zone and has been the moving spirit of the campaign team of the party.

The PDP candidate who is from the Owerri zone enjoys the sentiments of the zone which has the highest registered voters in the entire state, especially as most people in the zone are saying that going by the way and manner Ihedioha was removed from office, the zone should produce the next governor for the state and not Orlu which has already governed the state for 20 years, based on cumulative years of Chief Achike Udenwa, Owelle Rochas Okorocha who had governed the state for 16 years and the incumbent Uzodimma who will be completing four years in January 2024. The argument is that if he returns for a second term of four years, Orlu zone would have governed the state for a period of 24 years.

Also the chances of PDP have been boosted as dischanted members of the opposition parties even from the ruling APC have also joined the PDP for its promise to make Imo Safe Again. Last October, the entire leadership of Action Alliance (AA) across the 305 Wards and 27 LGAs in the state collapsed into Sam-Jones Governorship Project, and adopted the PDP standard bearer, Senator Anyanwu as their consensus candidate.

The State Chairman of Action Alliance (AA), Chief Anthony Uchemna Ahaneku, said the PDP candidate is not only capable and qualified, but prepared and well-equipped to govern Imo State.

“Our motive of pulling you out to our state office is to genuinely adopt you as our own consensus governorship candidate. Our decision is collective and total. This is because all members of our party are yearning for the best for our state. The only mandate we have is to join you to deliver and secure our state from its present situation.

“Let me also inform you on behalf of members of the State Working Committee (SWC), Ward and LGA executive seated here before you today that we have decided to collapse into your structure to be able to realize the objective of making Imo safe again.”

Also, a faction of the Labour Party in the state had earlier joined the campaign team of the PDP..

Spokesman of the SamJones Campaign Organisation, Nze Meekam Mgbemelu, former Commissioner for Technology Development in the short-lived Emeka Ihedioha administration said that the party is fully prepared for the November 11 gubernatorial polls as it has established a well equipped situation room for the election.

He alleged that some SkillUp trainees are being trained in Owerri metropolis on how to manipulate the BVAS machines to frustrate accreditation figures and upload of results in order to compromise the election.

He called on the parents and the SkillUp trainees to beware of being used as agents of destabilization.

He also disclosed that the party will thwart any effort by the ruling APC to disenfranchise the people from casting their votes.

The party allegedly that it has uncovered plans by the APC government to import over 4,500 pre-loaded BVAS machines into the state, adding that over 223,000 figures had already been loaded into the BVAS machines while awaiting election day to be activated.

“Our investigation also indicates that the pre-loaded BVAS machines were used in the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections in Ebonyi State,” the party alleged, adding: “It is imperative to inform the public that our investigation shows that the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Ebonyi State, Onyeka Pauline Ugochi is allegedly facilitating this illegality, in connivance with her Imo State counterpart, Prof Sylvia Agu.

“Another prime suspect in the illegal deal is a Senior INEC official from Mbano, but married to an indigene of Mbaitoli LGA, both in Imo State. She knows herself and the role she is playing. Imo people will not hesitate to arrest anyone seen committing crime during this off-cycle election and thereafter, hand over such arrested suspects to the law enforcement agents for prosecution in line with Section 39 and 40 (1) of the Nigeria Police Act of 2020.”

Similarly, SamJones Campaign Organisation alleged that it had equally bust another “Omuma Magic” at booth 021, Ugirike-Okwu-Eziama Ward, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State.

The Director, Media/Publicity of SamJones Campaign Organisation, Mr Ikenna Onuoha, in a statement said: “For the sake of clarity, this polling unit belongs to a popular APC leader in the LGA who used the same method to manipulate the last House of Assembly and National Assembly election results.

“The polling unit in question has 1,382 registered voters, out of which 97 per cent of them are stranger elements, mostly from Hausa and Yoruba tribes. None of these strange persons representing the 97 per cent are indigenes of Eziama nor reside within the environs. It is worthy to note that Eziama Ikeduru is so remote without a factory or industry to warrant this number of strangers registering as potential voters if not an orchestrated ploy by this APC leader to leverage on the fictitious and non-existent names to subvert the wishes of the people.

“Regrettably, most of them with female names are represented with male pictures, while their male counterparts are represented with female pictures. The question now is, which business are these strangers doing in Eziama Ikeduru to the extent of being captured as potential voters when indigenes of the village barely recognize any of them?

“Credible information obtained indicates that the same popular APC leader is allegedly working in connivance with some senior INEC officials in Imo and Ebonyi states to import unused Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines into the state for the purposes of uploading non-existent figures into the system.”

For the LP, the emergence of billionaire businessman and former Senator of Okigwe zone as its governorship candidate after the April 15 primaries was a big surprise to many, especially as Major General (rtd) Lincoln Jack Ogunewe from Ezinihitte Mbaise Council Area in the Owerri zone was tipped to win the primaries given the fact that some of the aspirants from Owerri had stepped down for him.

LP has witnessed a massive turnaround in the state since the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls in which Peter Obi was the driving force.

In fact, it was not a surprise that the party has effectively become a major force in the state as it won the Imo East (Owerri zone) Senatorial poll, the Owerri Federal constituency, the Ngor Okpala/Aboh Mbaise Federal constituency, Owerri Municipal state constituency and the Obowo state constituency elections.

Irrespective of the crisis that engulfed the Imo State chapter prior to the state governorship primaries over the alleged sacking of Julius Abure as the National Chairman and the claims of Alhaji Lamidi Apapa as being the acting National Chairman, a development that created a faction and polarized the party in the state, the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Achonu, has been campaigning vigorously with his message of ‘Taking Back Imo’. He has not only hinged his campaign messages on tackling the ravaging insecurity in the state, but also on the imperative of making the state productive again by bringing back investors who had fled the state in the face of dire security situation in the last three and half years.

His campaign rallies have always been massive wherever they land. He has promised to grant autonomy to the local government councils and to conduct local government election within his first six months in office.

The One-Arm General as he is popularly called, the proponent of Aku Ruo Ulo Initiative and founder of NUMO Farms has urged the youths of the state to take their destinies in their own hands by not lending themselves as cannon fodders in the hands of the APC in the governorship election.

He also tasked the youths to defend their votes and polling units by waiting after voting for the results of their booths to be announced and to resist the thugs of the ruling APC, saying that they are depending on rigging the polls, claiming that they have never won a free and fair election before.

However, the major concern of the people of the state is the issue of security and whether the INEC will obey their own rules as captured succinctly by Dr Cosmos Ilechukwu, the General Overseer of Charismatic Renewal Missions, and Chairman of Imo State Religious Leaders Forum.

He said: “Concerning the governorship election, feelers we are getting from our monitoring teams is that voter apathy is likely to mar the exercise. The reason for the apathy Is not far-fetched. First, due to grave insecurity in the state and persistent bloodletting, voters will withdraw into their shells to save their lives.

“Secondly, the thuggery and manifold electoral offences that were glorified in sundry manners in the earlier elections this year are compelling the populace to believe that their votes would not count.

“We are worried about these very unfortunate and retrogressive narratives and determined to work with all stakeholders to change the narrative.

“We also intend to hold an interface with INEC that the electoral officials at all levels would be professional and impartial in their conduct to ensure that the BVAS are used and results uploaded real time as they have promised.”

On its part, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed confidence of victory in the forthcoming governorship election.

The Southeast Zonal Chairman of the party, Chilos Godsent said that his party has done all necessary campaigns to deserve victory.

However, while expressing fears of the alleged tactics of the ruling party to import thugs to truncate the process of the election, especially with the alleged securing of all the hotel rooms in the state for its political thugs, he urged the citizens to resist any form of rigging.

He said: “In view of the above development, this indicates that the Imo State government is planning to import thugs from outside Imo State to camp them in those hotels for the primary purpose of using them to cause a crisis in the state in order to violently rig the governorship election.

“In addition, it’s clearer to the world that Senator Hope Uzodimma is desperate to rig and win the election by every means available to him in other to extend the sufferings of the residents of Imo State occasioned by the insecurity ravaging the state since he assumed office as governor.”

Fashioning a way to come out of the situation, Godsent wants all the opposition parties to form a revolution against the ruling party.

“ADC, Southeast zone is, therefore, calling on all the opposition political parties and candidates to come together and form a rainbow alliance and coalition in order to defeat Senator Hope Uzodimma in the election,” he suggested.

Also, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) said that it is not only prepared for the Saturday Imo governorship election, but also “confident to coast to victory”, considering the fact that its candidate, Dr Kemdi Chino Opara, has the support of the Imo electorate.

YPP Deputy Director Communications, Michael Anyanwu, said that all efforts have been concluded to ensure a sweet victory.

His words: We have moved round on sensitisation tours engaging Imolites on issue-based campaigns and most of them are convinced that our governorship candidate is eminently qualified and parades the best manifesto that will transform the state for good and improve the general wellbeing of Ndi Imo.

“The numerous endorsements by stakeholders and support groups, as well as the call by the suffering Imo masses for Dr Kemdi to come and liberate Imo State from the prevailing bad governance fraught with visionless leadership is reassuring that they will troop out en masse on Saturday to vote for the YPP governorship candidate and renowned philanthropist that is saving and touching lives in many diverse ways.

“With our agents and supporters across various polling units of the state, the mandate of the people, which will be freely given to Dr. Kemdi Chino Opara on November 11 cannot be stolen. We are highly optimistic of victory at the end of the polls once there is a level playing ground for all.”

Imo APC optimistic Uzodimma will win over 70% votes

With all the confidence exhibited by the other political parties, the All Progressives Congress remains the party to beat, especially with the love shown to the governor by the vast majority of citizens of the state who have been endorsing him for a second term.

Imo Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Mbadiwe Emelumba, told Sunday Sun that Governor Uzodimma would win the Saturday governorship election in the state fair and square.

Mbadiwe, who said that though he did not carry out any empirical survey, assured that the governor would win over 70 per cent of votes cast at the poll.

The commission said that his optimism arose from the dividends of democracy the governor has delivered to the people in his first term, as well as the robust campaign he has embarked upon.

He said that Uzodimma has toured all the federal constituencies campaigning while using the local leaders at the ward and booth levels to solicit the votes of Imolites, saying that the people are with the governor.

Also, Governor Uzodimma would be banking on some road projects and other laudable projects he has done in the state.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications, Collins Ughala, speaking on the preparedness of his boss said: “We are prepared for the election. The governor is busy campaigning in all nooks and crannies of the state for his re-election, and he enjoys the massive support of Imo people. The governor’s performance in his first term speaks so loud for him, and the people can’t wait for the election day to transform their humongous support to votes for the governor.

“We are not afraid of anything. Rather, we are confident of victory because the governor has done well and deserves a second term. What we offer Imo people is a good product, a man who understands the problems and is solving them; a man who has not disappointed the people one bit; a man who has done well despite the odds; a man of great vision, experience and courage.

“Imo people should not be afraid to come out en masse to cast their votes for their governor.”

However, residents of the state have expressed fears about the inability of the INEC to conduct a free, fair and credible election.

Mr Chijioke Agwu said: “How are we sure INEC will not do the same thing they did in the Presidential election. We don’t have trust in them again.”

Also, another resident who pleaded for anonymity said: “There is severe insecurity in the state. So, naturally I am deeply concerned that this can cause voter apathy and affect votes if not checked.”

BAYELSA

Incumbent Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, of the PDP; Chief Timipre Sylva of the APC, and Udengs Eradiri of the LP are the three leading candidates as the electorate file out on Saturday, November 11 2023, to elect the next occupant of Creek Haven Government House, for the next four years.

Elections in Bayelsa have always been tough. Even when the PDP was the only dominant party, primary elections were fiercely contested because it was a known fact that once you secured the PDP ticket you were as good as having won the main election.

However, since 2015 with the formation of the APC, the competition has become fiercer and deadlier. The 2015 governorship election, which the PDP won convincingly, was hotly contested. It was declared inconclusive and it took a battle of wits before Dickson prevailed, winning in seven out of the eight local government areas. The 2019 governorship election which the APC won, but later lost in court was equally bitterly contested and claiming many lives in the process.

As D-Day for the November 11 election is within sight, the three leading candidates and their political parties are putting finishing touches to their campaign strategies and winning formula in what promises to be a tough election going by several posters, utterances of party chieftains and the fear that is already hanging over the state.

Diri banks on achievements for re-election

Senator Diri is the incumbent governor who is seeking re-election. In the 2019 governorship election, he was defeated by David Lyon of the APC. Lyon polled 352,552 votes to defeat Diri who polled 143,172 votes. Lyon won in six local government areas namely, Southern Ijaw, Brass, Ekeremor, Nembe and Yenagoa while Diri won his local government Kolokuma/ Opokuma and Sagbama, the local government of his benefactor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson who was governor then.

However, a miracle through the Supreme Court which upheld a Federal High Court ruling which disqualified Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieyo for supplying false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made Diri governor.

The day of reckoning has come and Diri has maintained that with his performance in the past three years, he is confident that he will secure re-election.

Undoubtedly, with its structure across the 105 wards in the state, a structure that has been in existence since 1999, the PDP remains the frontline party.

For political observers in the state, Diri’s peaceful disposition as a man of peace, and the various road projects he is embarking upon is a plus for him.

Not only that, as the incumbent governor with access to a huge war chest, he is having one of the most robust campaigns that can only be compared to when Dickson was seeking re-election in 2015. He has been seen campaigning in virtually all the wards in the state.

The emergence of Sylva as the candidate of the APC further spurred the PDP to intensify its electioneering efforts to woo more electorate to its side.

The Diri-led government has accelerated the completion of different phases of road projects in the state.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar, Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori and lately former President Olusegun Obasanjo were dignitaries that have come to commission road projects in the state.

In the last few months, Diri has dished out appointments that made many members of the opposition dump their respective parties to defect to the PDP.

He has also extended appointments to non-indigenes, especially those in Yenagoa, endearing more people to his administration.

His campaign has also been boosted by chieftains of the APC who have fallen out with Sylva.

Diri has also received several endorsements from different political groups in the state, religious bodies, and traditional institutions which ordinarily should make him go and sleep, but an election is not a cup of tea, which has prompted him to be on the field campaigning to get votes.

From Ogbia to Nembe to Southern Ijaw to Ekeremor to Brass to Kolokuma/ Opokuna, amid large crowd of party enthusiasts, Diri’s message has been that if he is re-elected, he would complete all projects already ongoing and commence new ones.

He said in Southern Ijaw: “In almost four years of our administration, we have embarked on projects that touched lives particularly the Yenagoa-Oporoma-Ukubie road, which everyone is happy about. We needed to fast-track the development of the state.

“When you give me your mandate for a second term, by next year, we will drive to Oporoma because that is the target given to us. Thereafter, we will also award the next phase of the project from Aguobiri to Eniwari community.”

In Ekeremor, Diri told the electorate: “We did not come to campaign as we are your children. We know you have always been behind us and will do so again. We are not like those people who say I will do it, so vote for me. With my background in Ijaw struggle, I will do more to develop Bayelsa.”

Speaking about Diri, PDP National Vice Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, said the party is impressed with Diri’s performance.

“We have watched with great admiration your campaigns. Some governors campaign for their second tenure telling the people what they want to do. But your campaign is laced with the commissioning of projects and flagging off new ones. It is very uncommon and we want to congratulate you.”

Also commenting on the achievements of the governor, pioneer president of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Chief Joshua Fumudoh, said that Diri as a product of the Ijaw struggle, had seen it all and has translated his passion for the Ijaw nation into development and transformation of the only homogeneous Ijaw state.

According to him, there was a clear difference between those who fought the Ijaw cause and others whose ambitions were for personal gains.

Is It Sylva O’clock?

Sylva, former governor and former Minister of Petroleum, is aiming for a comeback as governor after he was denied a second term in 2012 and unceremoniously removed as governor.

In 2012, the general impression was that the curtain had been drawn on his political career, especially when he was hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and even the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

In 2015, Sylva bounced back as one of the leaders of the APC. Though his attempt to go to the Senate during the election of that year was futile, he rose to become Minister of State Petroleum between 2019 and 2023. He was also instrumental to the emergence of Lyon first as the standard bearer of the party and later as governor-elect in 2019.

While Sylva had initially said he would never run for Bayelsa governor again declaring “that chapter of my life is closed,’’ he has also offered reasons when he changed his mind, especially after several supporters of the party urged him to contest, stressing that he remained the best person to slug it out with Diri.

Sylva’s quest for a comeback has met with some resistance from some of his proteges, who have refused to join his campaign with some openly working for Diri.

However, this has not deterred Sylva as he has even pressed further with vigour. As part of his new alliance, he has reactivated neglected grassroots mobilizers who are well-loved and respected by the people even when it is known that they don’t have deep pockets.

He has also been able to attract a sizable number of youths to his campaign. More so, his wife, Mrs Alayingi Sylva, whose time as First Lady was still being talked about in the state for series of women empowerment has also re-booted her network of loyalists who have done wonderfully well in launching series of campaigns on behalf of Sylva. He has also received strings of endorsements, especially from Bayelsa East, his senatorial district.

Even when a Federal High Court disqualified him, prompting the opposition to mock him, Sylva remained unbowed.

He has campaigned vigorously, touring the nooks and crannies of the state, selling his manifesto of Renewed Hope for Bayelsa which he christened HIGAPS, covering human capital development, infrastructure development, gas hub, agriculture, power generation and security.

The large crowd that has trooped out to listen to him are enough manifestation that perhaps this could be his time.

In one of his campaign stops in Southern Ijaw, he slammed Diri for the high rate of poverty in the state.

His words: “The problem in Bayelsa State is that of poverty. People do not have money in their pockets because most people do not have jobs. Most of them are able-bodied, they have skills, they are educated and qualified but no work. We must make sure that Bayelsans have work because this is one aspect of human capacity development.

‘’We will give work to our people, we will empower our people, we will educate our people, we will give scholarships and we will pay bursary.

‘’I have the experience, I have the standing and the exposure and I can surpass Diri by far. Frankly, if it’s something I can laugh about I would have done so because he is confused. But why I can’t laugh is because people are dying, people are hungry because of his confusion.

‘’So, when I see the lack of capacity of the man, I have to come to contest the election to make life better. I want to assure you that if you vote for me and my deputy your lives will never be the same again.”

Speaking to Diri’s kinsmen in Kaiama, Odi, Sabageria and Opokuma, he promised many communities in the area infrastructure development.

He said: “When we come in as a new government, we will develop all the communities in the area. We will ensure development is shared evenly to all parts of the local government area of the state rather than focusing on a particular place.

“The area is flood-prone and the current governor is from here, but hasn’t done anything to salvage the situation, so when I become governor, I will do everything possible to ensure that we put a stop to the devastating flood always affecting the people.’’

Can LP rekindle Obi’s magic

Udengs of the Labour Party remains the youngest candidate of the major parties contesting the election.

Though he has previously been part of PDP and later APC, but many people in the state and Niger Delta know him for his youth activism, first as spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council and president of the foremost pressure group.

He was the first, among the candidates, to unfold a manifesto entitled: PEAP. And he has assured that he would change the story of young Bayelsans.

In all his campaign stops, he has been consistent with his message, which is about the people, education, agriculture and power.

Eradiri whose endorsement by Peter Obi boosted his campaign profile has also campaigned in several parts of the state, especially the hinterlands.

He has vowed to demystify money politics while promising the people an improved standard of living when elected as governor.

Obi who campaigned with him said Bayelsa does not deserve what it is presently going through as an oil-rich state.

“Bayelsa is not supposed to be among the least of poor states for what God endowed them with; it is bad leadership and that’s what we are trying to change. Our candidate has told you they will give you money, but we are not in the politics of sharing money, we don’t have any money to share, those who are giving you money are giving you your own money. We didn’t steal anything, so we can’t give anything.

‘’We have unveiled this man, all we want is for you to support him, you can go and verify all that he said. He has paid his dues not just in Bayelsa, but in the region. It is time we work with wealth creators, not wealth sharers,’’ Obi said.

Speaking on the neglect of teachers and the sudden appointment of people, he said the LP is a better alternative.

“Whatever they are promising to do for you now is fake. It is because they want to deceive you again to vote for them. You have been crying over your challenges, but they turned deaf ears to your demands. Suddenly, they are coming to make fake promises to you.

“Don’t allow them to deceive you again. Whatever they couldn’t do for you three years ago and they are making promises to do now, it is because another election is around the corner and they need your votes. If you mistakenly return them, they will surely abandon you again,” he said.

Political parties plead for credible process

All the political parties have pleaded for a credible process devoid of violence. During a stakeholder’s meeting with INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, they called for a transparent election with INEC playing the role of a neutral umpire.

On the threat of violence, the major candidates have also tasked the security agencies to ensure a level-playing ground.

Sunday Sun investigation revealed that troops are being deployed to the states to make up the 27,000 security personnel for election duty.

The different political parties are also not leaving anything to chance as they have mapped out strategies to combat electoral heists.

Plans have been concluded to have Situation Rooms to monitor the conduct of elections and track the results.

Checks indicated that security agencies in the coming days are going to launch sting operations to mop up arms in different areas of the states. (Sunday Sun: Text, Excluding Headline)

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