By Sam Jones, Yenagoa
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Bayelsa State Commissioner For Information, Orientation and Strategy, Hon. Ayibaina Duba, has called on politicians to stop beating drums of war in order not to scare away voters who want to exercise their franchise.
Duba stated this at his country home Nedugo in Yenagoa Local Government Area noting that such development may have led to a slight voter apathy in his area.
He pointed out that the number of voters who turned out for Saturday’s governorship election was not as large as in previous years especially among the non indigenes in the area
On the election in the area, he described the accreditation and voting process as generally peaceful and there was no delay in Unit 12 Ward 7 where he cast his vote
His words: “For my community here right now, I don’t think there was any issue concerning BVAS malfunctioning or anything. And we started early, the materials came early enough because the RAC centre was open since yesterday and it was peaceful.
“They were at the RAC centre and then this morning we started early enough and we started voting early.
“So, comparatively from what I have seen here, and I get reports from other places too, within the constituency, I don’t think there was any issue of BVAS malfunctioning this time around.
“Usually, even here, there used to be more crowd, but I don’t know if maybe because it’s an off cycle election people decided to stay back particularly, from what I see, the non indigenes were not keen.
“I don’t what to speculate, but you know sometimes, when you hear the drums of war, people are scared from coming out. But, as you can see, it’s peaceful.
“But, it will scare people away. I will only call on political actors not to beat the drums of war preparatory to elections. Let us be civil in what we say, be temperate in our expression so that people will not have the fear.
“That too, I’m just speculating.”
