Bayelsa guber poll: Diri, Sylva, others sign peace accord

In a proactive move to ensure a peaceful gubernatorial election, political parties and their respective candidates in Bayelsa State convened to sign a peace accord on Wednesday. The ceremony, which took place at the Lady Diama Memorial Event Centre in Yenagoa, saw the participation of the incumbent Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, the All Progressives Congress (APC) nominee, and representatives from fourteen other political factions.InformationGuideNigeria

The signing was orchestrated by the National Peace Committee in collaboration with the Kukah Centre, highlighting a commitment to non-violence and fair play in the electoral contest scheduled for November 11.

Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese presided over the event, emphasizing the critical need for tolerance and civility among the populace and political contenders. His message was clear: the people of Bayelsa State should embrace a spirit of peaceful coexistence to facilitate a credible and smooth electoral process.

Kukah, who represented the National Chairman of the National Peace Committee, NPC, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, said: “I want to enjoin you and call upon you to please ensure that we all imbibe the spirit that only the living can participate in politics, and enjoy the dividends of democracy.

“Our prayer and our hope is that this election will go on peacefully. I want to add my voice, vote to stay alive, vote to see a great Bayelsa and Nigeria.JAMB Result

“It will be a terrible tragedy for anybody to lose his life or to be hospitalized. Let’s conduct ourselves in a way and manner that will finally make the judiciary which has become the subject of law of litigation redundant. And the only way we can do this is to conduct free, fair and credible election.”

Tensions rose shortly after the conclusion of a peace accord signing in Bayelsa State, as two leading candidates, Douye and Sylva, engaged in a heated exchange with the media present. Despite the recent pledge to ensure a peaceful gubernatorial election, both candidates leveled serious allegations against each other, each accusing the other of conspiring to breach the newly signed agreement.

This development casts a shadow of doubt over the effectiveness of the peace accord, raising concerns about the potential for conflict in the upcoming elections. The accusations and counteraccusations between Douye and Sylva suggest that despite public commitments to peace, underlying hostilities may pose a risk to the election’s tranquility.

Diri said: “Generally Nigerians are seeing this as an election ritual because a lot of politicians do not keep to it. So it is just a ritual, we come and sign and the bad politicians among us will continue the violence.

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“I have just been informed that the former governor of the state who you interviewed has accused me (Douye Diri of stockpiling arms in Kolokuma-Opokuma. That should be the fattest lie of the year and that shows that this peace accord is going to be ineffectual. Because if a man chooses to be telling lies even in the face of this peace accord, then something is wrong in our polity.

“I am really embarrassed when I got that information. Everybody knows in this state those who are given to violence and the flash red point and I think that the candidate of the APC, Chief Timipre Sylva may have stockpiled arms in Kolokuma-Opokuma and I have called on the security agencies to immediately swing into action to see if Timipre Sylva is bringing the devilish actions he has been taking in Nembe where he has disallowed the people of Nembe to participate in democratic electoral peaceful process.NYSC Portal

“And we in Kolokuma will never accept that from him, I am one person that all of you will at least know that the peace in this state is because the body language of the governor is peaceful. The body language of the governor is security and so the issue of my commitment does not arise here.”

Sylva had earlier said: “The APC today has come to demonstrate that we are committed to peace in Bayelsa State but we must say that we are not very comfortable with the disposition of our opponent.

“There has been a lot of violence perpetrated by PDP in Kolokuma-Opokuma and this morning, I was told that they were stoking violence in other places. But am happy that the peace accord will make all of us to stand back. I think it is a very important step that we have taken.JAMB Portal

“For us in APC we are very happy that this is happening because we have always stood for peace and we hope that other parties will also obey and abide by the peace accord.

“Having signed it, we believe that it will at least jolt everybody not to do what they have planned to do because we hear all kinds of plans of thugs being imported from all over the place, Rivers and Delta to Bayelsa.”

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