Don’t interfere in Bayelsa guber poll – Group tells Tinubu, military

The Network of Bayelsa Professionals (NBP) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to resist the temptation of interfering with the November 11 governorship election in the state in the interest of fairness and advancement of democracy in the country.

The group said its appeal for neutrality from the presidency comes on the heels of speculation that President Tinubu has assured the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, of total support, including the deployment of the military to help him win the election.

Members of the APC in the state were said to have been rejoicing that the President assured their candidate, Sylva, that he was going to do everything to ensure he wins, including using the influence of the military.

Some chieftains of the APC in the state were also reported to have made the claim in a viral video on social media after the recent meeting between Tinubu and Sylva at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

However, the Network of Bayelsa Professionals said in a statement on Sunday that if the claims are true, President Tinubu will be subverting democracy and setting the state up for chaos.

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The group said: “Tinubu should realise that he still has a burden hanging on his neck because of his emergence and should not double that burden but use the coming elections to begin to redeem himself.

“We, therefore, call on the president to be mindful of those who want to use him to disrupt the peace and stability in the state because of their desperate ambition.

“Bayelsans are not preparing for war but for elections. The emphasis should be on ballots and not bullets. PVC and not AK-47 rifles. We have lost innocent people in the past because of the role played by some security agents in the past.”

While insisting that the election should not be used to turn the state into a theatre of war, they also called on Tinubu to warn all the institutions responsible for the conduct of the election to allow the votes of the people to count and “not create tension and unnecessary panic before, during and after the election.”