The All Progressives Congress (APC), Bayelsa State Governorship Campaign Council, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to bribe officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the election.
The Alternate Director- General of the campaign organisation, Prof Seiyefa Brisibe in a statement titled ‘BAYELSA 2019: PDP’s cry over SPOs’, said the APC has it on good authority that PDP had offered the sum of NI billion to officials of the commission.
He said the earlier allegation by the ruling party in the state that the APC had compromised INEC officials is symptomatic of a ‘sinking party’.
Brisibe condemned attempts to compromise the electoral umpire through financial inducement and upend the wishes of the electorate, saying, it was important to notify the national and state officials of INEC that their integrity was at stake and that “any perpetuation of an illegality in connivance with the PDP, which is just a paper tiger, and a rejected party in the state for its twenty years of misrule, will destroy the image of the electoral body.”
The statement further reads: “We therefore, urge INEC to withstand the temptation of being used by the PDP to truncate the electoral process, especially with regard to the November 16 governorship polls in the state. It is shameful that the PDP which claims to be on ground with all the structures required to win the elections, has chosen an illegal path by releasing such a whooping sum to compromise electoral standards.