Bayelsa REC’s Claim Of Financial Inducement To Rig Governorship Election Vindicates PDP, Says Commissioner

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Esueme Dan-Kikile, on Tuesday, said that the recent revelation by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritor Kpagih, that he was put under pressure by some unnamed politicians to induce him to rig the inconclusive December 5 governorship election, had vindicated the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Dan-Kikile said that though the series of alarm raised by PDP on plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the governorship election in the state were dismissed by security agencies, the recent revelation by Mr. Kpagih, had confirmed fears raised by the Bayelsa PDP.

The Bayelsa REC had last week during a media briefing, alleged that some politicians had approached him and tried to induce him to rig the governorship election.

He, however, refused to reveal the identities of the politicians that attempted to induce him to manipulate the polls.

Reacting to the disclosure, Mr Dan-Kikile yesterday, in Yenagoa during the monthly transparency briefing, said: “The recent confession by the Bayelsa REC confirmed what we have always said that some people had attempted to reach INEC.

“We were not taken seriously but had insisted that as a government, the maxim of one man, one vote must apply. That was why we campaigned from community to community”. [PDP]