Bayelsa Guber Poll: British Envoy visits LP Candidate, vows Credible Election
By Peregba Jerry
The British High Commission has vowed to support free, fair, and credible elections ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa state.
The Commission’s political secretary, Abuja, Hamish Tye, made the appeal during a meeting with the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Udengs Eradiri, at his residence in Yenagoa, the state capital.
Tye said his team visited Bayelsa to meet with the governorship candidates, get a better idea of the issues shaping the poll as well as a better understanding of the manifestoes of each governorship candidate.
He said: “We have come to Bayelsa to meet with the governorship candidates and to get a better idea of the issues they are going to be contesting in the election and what the people are going to be voting on the basis of and to get a better idea of what each governorship candidate will like to do while in office.
“We don’t have any demands per se but our view is that the election should be peaceful and credible. We also discussed the idea of a peace accord and that will be followed up on.”
In his remarks, the LP candidate, Udengs Eradiri, said the visit was to assess the personalities of each candidate and their dispositions towards peace and security.
He noted: “Generally, they wanted to know why I wanted to be governor and what I am bringing on the table. It afforded me the opportunity to express the Labour Party agenda for the leadership of Bayelsa State.
“For me, the concerns that I raised and I keep raising them, is about vote buying which is already ongoing by appointments that are being dished out by the government of the day. They promised 17 members per polling unit, they are paying N100,000 each.
“As for me, I am creating a lot of jobs for young people. Since I came into this race, the jittery nature of the government, I have seen them coming to the Labour Party to appoint Bayelsans, Labour Party members into government. Most of them have been employed, and most of them have been appointed.
“So I am grateful that I am not governor yet, I am creating Jobs for young people. This is what he should have done months ago, doing it now amounts to vote buying, it amounts to inducing gullible Bayelsans to think that their life wants to start whereas it’s just for three months.
“Some of them won’t even get a salary, it is just a show of desperation to use the people’s wealth to buy them. It is the responsibility of the government to appoint aides who will work for the progress of the state. Appointing them now, what happened all these three years and a half, what has been happening to those positions?
“It means that authority not used is authority lost. For three and half years, we didn’t have those positions, it means that we failed in our responsibility, we violated the oath of office and the constitution of Bayelsa and the federal republic by not filling those positions that are being filled today as a result of the election.”
FOR ADVERT AND NEWS PUBLICATION: EMAIL US THROUGH tarakirivoicenewspaper@gmail.com or WhatsAp Us @ 08160439769 please whatsAp only
