Nov 11 poll, contest for votes, not guns – Gov Diri warns mischief makers

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has challenged politicians in the state not to prepare for violence in the November 11 governorship election, saying the poll is about votes and not guns.

Governor Diri, who admonished his opponents to contest for the ballots and not bullets, also warned the opposition not to resort to mayhem and violence as it will not be tolerated.

The governor made his position known on Friday during the 25th State Security Council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, on Thursday.

Governor Diri, who referred to a recent concern expressed by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, that incumbent governors were preventing the opposition from using public facilities in some states, assured that his administration will ensure a level field for all parties and that the opposition in the state will not be arm-twisted.

He, however, urged the security agencies to be alert to forestall any act of violence ahead of the election.

His words: “In Bayelsa, I assure my opponents that we are not going to arm-twist anyone. In the same vein, no opponent should threaten mayhem and violence.

“This government has the capacity to contain them if anybody dares us. We want a Bayelsa State which is the centre and Jerusalem of all Ijaws, to play that role of not only tolerating ourselves but also visitors who come here to contribute to the growth and development of this state.

“So I again call on all our security agencies to be alert as we move towards the November 11 contest. It is a contest of votes and not of guns. It is a contest of ballots, not bullets. As the former president succinctly said that his office was not worth the blood of any Nigerian, I believe in that and I stand by those words.”

Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, the state Commissioner of Police, Tolani Alausa, said the council resolved that a joint task force to checkmate criminal activities preparatory to the governorship election, particularly in the Nembe axis, would be set up soon.

Alausa noted that the task force would comprise the military, police, Department of State Security, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other key security agencies to be headed by the police commissioner.

He also disclosed that the council approved the setting up of a task force to clamp down on unapproved tinted vehicles used to perpetrate crime in and around the state capital.