By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa – Women mostly drawn from Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State yesterday defied the ban on street procession and demonstrations to protest what they described as the widespread irregularities in conduct of the rescheduled Southern Ijaw local government area election and called for the cancellation of the exercise.

The protesting women, clad in black and armed with placards with the inscription, “leadership is about building and not destroying “,INEC are you still independent?!”, Buhari are you still for everybody and nobody” and “No vote in Southern Ijaw wards”, moved towards the INEC collation centre chanting war songs but were stopped by men of the Joint Task Force code named Operation Pulo Shield, the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC.

The aggrieved women drawn from the eight local government of the state, were led by the State Women Leader of the PDP, Madam Faith Opuene.

The PDP women leader said the decision of INEC to collude with the All Progressive Congress (APC) to disenfranchise the people of the state is wicked and unconstitutional.

She said though the decision to rescheduled the election was normal, the refusal of INEC to put necessary machinery to protect lives and materials for the election invalidate any outcome from the charade termed election in Southern Ijaw.