By Samuel Oyadongha
Yenagoa—The campaign organisation of Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Mr. Timi Alaibe, Tuesday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies to beef security to check what it described as the importation of mercenaries who neither reside in communities in the state nor are qualified to vote but are being registered amidst protests from the locals.

Director General of the outfit, Senator Inatimi Rufus_Spiff at a press conference in Yenagoa said vigilant Bayelsans had observed the influx of unknown persons, travelling in buses and boats into communities, ostensibly to have their names and other vital data entered into the voters’ register in the communities.

Specifically, he cited Odi and Kaiama in Kolokuma_Opokuma council area and Sagbama where frantic attempts were made to have these thugs massively registered but were resisted by the true and eligible indigenes of the area.

“At Odi and Kaiama, vigilant youths staunchly warded off a convoy of buses conveying these thugs who had been paid to skew the voter register exercise in the area. While at Kaiama the youths arrested some of them that were eventually handed over to the DPO of Kaiama Police Station. Just on Sunday, January 23rd another group of foreign voters invaded Sagbama in the Sagbama local government area, the youths resisted and one of the youths identified as Bernard Ebikefe was reportedly shot in the arm by someone in police uniform.

Some voter registration cards which were reportedly recovered from the hired mercenaries with the aid of security personnel were displayed before newsmen.

Continuing he said, “at Ondewari in Southern Ijaw council area that has five registration units, registered voters did not thumb print.

Only their names, addresses, age and photographs were captured while at Aguobiri 1 and 2, after several voters had registered the machines were retrieved to a small community known as Oluduon on the flimsy excuse that those machines were not supposed to have been used in Aguobiri.”

According to Senator Spiff, “thorough investigations have revealed that these political thugs have been paid handsomely to compromise the voters register in selected local government areas in the state with a view to preparing the ground for rigging in the forthcoming elections, particularly, the gubernatorial polls slated for April.”