The Network of Bayelsa Professionals, NBP, has urged President Bola Tinubu to refrain from interfering with the scheduled November 11 governorship poll in the state in the interest of fairness and democracy in Nigeria.
According to the group, its plea for neutrality from the presidency is coming after the postulation that Tinubu has assured the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timipre Sylva, of his complete support, including deploying military personnel to assist Sylva win the election.
Allegedly, APC members in the state had rejoiced when President Tinubu assured their candidate, Sylva, that he was going to do everything in his power to ensure his victory, including using the influence of military personnel.
Certain APC chieftains in Bayelsa state had reportedly made the claim via a video that has gone viral on social media after the recent meeting between Tinubu and Sylva at the Presidential Villa in FCT Abuja.
The Network of Bayelsa Professionals had meanwhile, in a statement released on Sunday, August 13, remarked that if the claims by the party chieftains were true, then it simply meant that President Tinubu would be destabilising democracy and setting the state up for conflict.
The group had said:
“Bayelsa State indigenes are not gearing up for war but for elections. Emphasis should be placed on ballots and PVCs and not on bullets and AK-47 rifles. We have already lost innocent people in the past because of the role played by some paid security agents during elections.”
While demanding that the election period should not be used to cause conflict in the state, the group had also appealed to President Tinubu to caution all institutions responsible for conducting the election to allow the votes of the residents to count and to avoid creating tension and fear before, during and after the election.
