SAN FRANCISCO, November 06, (THEWILL) – As controversy continues to trail the election into the executive committee of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the Bayelsa State Government has been accused of splashing over N20 million to swindle votes at the election in favour of a candidate supported by the Presidency to head the foremost Ijaw youths body.
Impeccable sources in the state alleged that the election campaign of the preferred candidate was bankrolled by the Bayelsa Government through the office of the Commissioner in charge of Ijaw Affairs, Dr Felix Tuodolo.
He was said to have allegedly released over N20 million to be splashed on the delegates besides the ones expended on the electoral committee and stakeholders to support former scribe of the council, Comrade Udengs Eradiri, who turned out to be the anointed candidate of the Presidency.
“I can’t give you exact figure but over N20 million was wasted to swindle votes and influence the election but the main problem is that the Bayelsa State government officials are poor managers, the whole exercise was a sham, the management was very poor hence the menace. The money they released went to mainly private individuals,” a source close to the deal said.
He alleged that the election which was earlier cancelled following protest over irregularities and manipulation of delegates was hurriedly reconvened the next day after an order allegedly from the presidency to the state government that it has to do everything possible to ensure that the preferred candidate is made the president since the electoral process was taking too long.
At the Government House Yenegoa, the Commissioner in charge of Ijaw Affairs was said to have swung into action immediately by allegedly ensuring that the person earlier nominated to chair the electoral committee, Ankio Briggs, an environmentalist and public affairs analyst, was removed and replaced by a stooge who they can easily influence.
It was learnt that the inability to influence Ankio Briggs to manipulate the votes led to the reconstitution of the Sunny Diritolofari-led Electoral Committee which was used to do the hatchet job, a development which triggered a protest by the other candidates who also declared themselves President-Elect on the ground that none of them was actually elected through a democratic process.
A self-declared President-Elect, Elvis Donkemezuo, accused the Bayelsa State Government of disrupting the election process by sharing the sum of N30,000 (about $189 ) to each delegate while the election was going on to make them vote for a preferred candidate.
Donkemezuo alleged that while the election was ongoing, Tuodolo entered the hall and started distributing money to delegates and security personnel deployed to the venue and the serious argument that broke out from the sharing first disrupted the process.
He alleged that the same incident repeated itself during the counting of ballot papers for some of the positions earlier voted for including the position of Financial Secretary and Treasurer, saying the chaotic situation prompted the electoral committee to declare the election inconclusive . He said in a twist to the incident, they were later informed via SMS that the election would reconvene the following day by 8am.
The Bayelsa State Commissioner in charge of Ijaw Affairs, Dr Tuodolo, could not react to the allegations as efforts made to reach him proved abortive. He actually refused to pick the calls made to him and did not reply text messages sent to his mobile phone.
Sources however said the Presidency had ordered the state government to ensure that nothing stops the IYC election to produce a candidate of choice.
Donkemezuo said that the following day, the election venue was barricaded by fierce looking soldiers with all the aspirants locked outside and they were told that the election had been held and a winner had emerged.
“We don’t know who voted for Udengs Eradiri since himself was smuggled into the Government House where a press conference was held and he was declared winner, a development which led to the imbroglio,” he lamented..
His assertion was also corroborated by the Ijaw Youth Council Western Zone when they converged in Warri, Delta State on Sunday to appraise the controversial election process as they unanimously rejected the election and alleged that Bayelsa State Government used states machinery to hijack the exercise, thus causing division in the group.
The youths who gathered at Teelilos Hotel said there was never a time they voted for Udengs and his self-acclaimed executives who have been allegedly going about showing themselves to the people in power that they are the new executives of IYC.
Preye Okaba, the IYC’s Western Zone Chairman said the election was inconclusive because of one or two irregularities.
“People that were accredited to vote didn’t vote, our position is that the elections were inconclusive and whosoever the government of Bayelsa State is throwing up as a president is their own president and not ours .
“Our first resolution is that the Western Zone unanimously agreed that the election held on Monday was inconclusive and for that we don’t recognise any president in IYC. Again, we resolve to be united and to speak in one voice, even as we are asking the Bayelsa State Government to stop interfering in our youth activities. We are a pressure group not to be funded by a government.
“We founded this organisation to struggle for the emancipation of Ijaw youths and not for anybody’s ambition. We are surprised that some people want to derail us. Now anytime they zone the president of IYC to the Central Zone, the Bayelsa State Government will do everything possible to hijack the system so they can plant their person but today we are standing against them that we are not in support of what they are doing.
“We are optimistic that all the three zone would reconvene again and a credible election would be conducted again and not the one conducted by the Bayelsa State Government to suit their purpose. I didn’t give any credence to the election because the one I voted was inconclusive, the one they are touting, all aspirants, delegates were locked out, so who voted for the people they are touting as winners?
“Mr President was never part of our election. People have been using his name but I can categorically tell you that Mr President has nothing to do with our election. There was never a time the President gave any signal that the election should be held hurriedly, that was just a ploy by some persons and the Bayelsa State government to hijack the system to their favour. They knew their candidate was not sellable again hence the manipulations,” he stated.
And as tongues continue to wag over the manipulation and irregularities in the election, a Warri based legal practitioner, Eric Omare, has expressed fears that the Ijaw Youth Council may be going into extinction following month-long crisis that have bedevilled it.
Omare who also vied for the position of Publicity Secretary in the manipulated election said it is a shame that some persons are gearing up to hijack common IYC election to their advantage.
“It is sad and disheartening that as Ijaw people, we cannot even conduct an election involving only 100 people/delegates and involving only Ijaw people.
“The inability to conclude the election and the subsequent events have led to a near state of anarchy and total disintegration of the once cohesive Ijaw Youth Council, worldwide which championed and internationalised the struggle for resource control, ” he said.
However, Eradiri who was reportedly declared winner by the compromised electoral committee, is insisting that he won a keenly contested election, saying it was not true that the system was manipulated to favour him.
In a terse message sent to TheWILL, Udengs said he worked and campaigned vigorously to win the controversial election, stressing that the Nigerian factor of losers not accepting defeat is what is playing out about the election.
“It’s not true…he who fails to plan, plans to fail. I worked hard as Secretary General of IYC and campaigned hard too to be President. Again I am yet to receive money from government so I don’t know why it’s hard to accept defeat in Nigeria,” Eradiri said.
His reaction came as the parent body of all Ijaw socio/culture and political groups, the Ijaw National Congress (INC), led by Senator James Tari Sekibo, waded into the imbroglio with the view to resolving the crisis.
The Publicity Secretary of INC, Pastor Victor Burubo, could not be reached for comments on the controversial election as he did not reply SMS sent to his mobile phone on the matter.
Meanwhile, the INC leadership after its meeting in Port Harcourt, River State on Tuesday has resolved to cancel the purported election which produced Eradiri pending the conclusion of investigation into the matter after which a date for a fresh election of the council will be announced.
INC has also asked all the aspirants who contested the controversial election and had declared themselves President-Elect to stop parading themselves following the voiding of the entire process.
