The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed confidence of winning the Saturday’s Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi governorship election.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Debo Ologunagba, said this at news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that apart from being PDP strongholds, the party’s governorship candidates in the three states were connected to the people.
Ologunagba said that the PDP had been engaged in very vigorous, issue-based and people-driven campaigns in the three states.
He added that the party’s candidates were standing strong with the people and PDP was sure of coasting to victory on Saturday in the state.
Ologunagba said that in Kogi, the PDP candidate, Sen. Dino Melaiye was leading in the entire state, rendering the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Alhaji Usman Ododo practically mute.
“In Bayelsa, our party is standing strong with the overwhelming popularity of Gov. Douye Diri, whose achievements have earned him the support of the people and sobriquet, the miracle governor.
“In Imo our candidate Sen. Samuel Anyanwu is leading in the three senatorial zones and the 27 Local Government Areas(LGAs) of the state.
“The message of our party and candidate is to make Imo safe again.
“We are set to win overwhelmingly in Imo because of the acceptability of our candidate and party among the people, he is accessible, grassroots politician, humane, understands and connects to the suffering of the people. He has always won election through popular vote, and he will win on Saturday,’’ he said.
Ologunagba said that the party would not be cowed as it would not allow manipulation of the electoral process in any of the three states.
He said that the party had already trained its polling agents as they were ready to ensure that the votes of the people on Saturday do not only count, be ensure that the outcomes reflect the wishes of the people.
He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to be neutral in the election, saying people would not accept anything outside their wishes.
INEC unveils booklet on party agents for Bayelsa, Imo Kogi election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published a booklet containing information on party agents for Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi governorship election.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun said this when he unveiled the booklet in Abuja on Tuesday.
Olumekun said that the publication was part of INEC preparations for Saturday’s election.
“The information booklet contains infographic summary of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected by Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation and disability.
“The publication also includes the list of candidates and detailed information on the two polling units in Bayelsa and 38 in Imo without registered voters.
“The Commission has repeatedly said that elections will not hold in these polling units. No materials have been produced for these locations and no officials will be deployed to them,’’ Olumekun said.
On the list of polling and collation agents for the election, Olumekun said that some political parties don’t have agents in some states, in spite of sponsoring candidates for the election.
Sixteen political parties fielded candidates for the election in Bayelsa and 18 in Imo and Kogi.
The election will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
Olumekun said that each political party was expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA and three state collation centres.
“However, at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa.
“Also 65,274 for Imo State and 37,995 for Kogi, making a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents for the three states.
“However, the detailed breakdown shows that not all the parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centres across the states.
“ Indeed, some political parties have no polling unit or collation agents in some States despite having candidates in the election,’’ he said.
Olumekun said that the information booklet as well as the comprehensive summary of the agents and their distribution by polling units as well the ward, LGA and state collation centres had been uploaded to INEC website.
He added that the publications had also been uploaded on INEC social media platforms for public information.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
