Authorities of the Department of State Security (DSS) has confirmed that scores of politicians from the two leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State have been placed under security watch and surveillance over possible involvement in the recruitment of youths and movement of heavy arms ahead of the November 16 Governorship election.

The State Director of the DSS, Ishaku Yusuf, who made this known yesterday during an election seminar organized by the Nigerian Police led by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 5, D.P. Yakadi for Political party Chairmen and other stakeholders in the State, said those under security watch are politicians that have been identified as having the capacity of instigate violence during elections.

“On the issue of identification of those intending to perpetuate violence crimes during the elections that is being done. Those who have the capacity have been put under security watch and homes under surveillance.”

Yusuf however, observed that the poor attitude and attendance of representatives of political parties to the security seminar showed the poor readiness of parties for the elections, adding that “another worry I have for the coming Bayelsa election, is the fact that we have 45 political parties listed for the election but 10 are in attendance here. It shows the security agencies are more ready than the owners of the elections.”

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 5, Mr. D.P. Yakadi, in his lecture, identified various factors that could lead the coming elections into violence and advised critical stakeholders including the Media, Political Parties and the INEC to step up preparations and work against corrupt tendencies before, during and after the elections.

Yakadi assured the stakeholders of the preparedness of the Zone under his watch for the November 16 Governorship election, saying “Unemployment and poverty are some of the key factors that are responsible for election violence in Nigeria, another factor is get rich syndrome, lost of societal values compared to what was attainable in olden days, another factor is proliferation of fire arms, easy access and consumption of illicit drugs”.

“We are here today to discuss with you how we can have free, fair and credible election on the 16 November, 2019. The increasing problem of violence in our politics today is a source of security concern.The stakeholders meeting organized by the Nigerian Police Force today is centred on the need to create a peaceful atmosphere before, during and after the forthcoming Bayelsa governorship election”.

“INEC should ensure that Bayelsa governorship election meet and satisfy international best practices, they should regularly partner with the security agencies, and create a conducive environment for all stakeholders to ensure credible election in Bayelsa state, INEC should enlighten and sensitize all political parties”.

“INEC management should show commitment to ensure that presiding officers, polling agents and other election officials are honest in discharging their duties, by understanding their rules in the election processes, INEC should ensure that adequate logistics and administrative processes are put in place before the day of the election to avoid delay as Bayelsa state is about 70% water and movement and personnel”.

In his speech, the Administrative secretary of the INEC in Bayelsa State, Mr. Edwin Enabor, announced that though the smart card readers to be used during the poll are undergoing charging with 100 per cent and assured that there would be no card reader failure during the poll,”we also have Local Government and ward registration areas with technical staff with smart card readers that can be rushed to areas of need.”

Enabor however said in case of failure of card reader failure, over 2,500 card readers have been borrowed from River State, ”we have to borrow 2,500 additional smart card readers from Rivers state and what we need is 2,240 smart card readers, which we have but still went to borrow more. The issue of smart card readers will be taken care of.” (Leadership)