Bayelsa Poll: Commissioner urges politicians to stop heating up the polity

The Commissioner for Information, Orientation, and Strategy in Bayelsa, Chief Ayibaina Duba, has called on political gladiators to cease beating the drum of war in the state, stating that this scares voters from coming out to exercise their franchise.

Duba spoke against the backdrop of the low turnout of voters in Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa.

Quoting from INEC data, the newsmen report that of the 218,394 registered voters in Yenagoa Local Government Area (LGA), only 54,380 voters turned up for the exercise.

Duba, who spoke on Sunday at his country home in Nedugo community in Yenagoa LGA, suspects that beating the drum of war by political actors may have struck fear into the electorate, and they stayed away from voting, especially the non-Indigenes in the area.

But he described the accreditation and voting process as hitch free, stating that there was no delay at all in unit 12, ward 7, where he voted.

“I call on political actors not to beat the drums of war preparatory to elections. Let us be civil in what we say, be careful with our utterances so that people will not be afraid,” Duba said.