Bayelsa poll: ‘How boom of guns forced us indoors for hours’
- Eye witnesses recount experience
The December 5 ‘inconclusive’ governorship election in Bayelsa State came with a striking revelation: militancy is far from over in the Niger Delta region, especially in Bayelsa State.
Despite the hullabaloo about the gains of the amnesty programme under which the Niger Delta militants were disarmed, reorientated and reintegrated into the society, the election of Saturday in Bayelsa, especially in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor local government area is a clear indication that illegal arms and ammunition are still in the reach of new breed of militants and perhaps ex-militants.
Southern Ijaw, the biggest council in Bayelsa, which has most of its communities lying on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean, and Ekeremor which shares boundaries with Delta State, were battlegrounds last Saturday. Residents woke up with a lot of enthusiasm. They were eager to partake in the event of the day. Most of them suspended their normal occupations of farming and fishing to get ready for the governorship election.
Some indigenous election observers arrived some of the coastal communities on the eve of the election. Therefore, on Saturday morning, all seemed set for the poll.
But hell was let loose. Different sounds of gunshots boomed. The gunfire particularly came from Oporoma, the headquarters of Southern Ijaw. Two camps of militants clashed at the headquarters where election materials were kept for distribution. They engaged each other in a gun duel that lasted for hours. Security operatives tried their best to repel them, but the gunmen were adamant.
There was confusion everywhere. Residents ran back to their homes, closed their doors and lay flat on the floor waiting for the booming guns to stop. But it continued. People were seen running to different directions for safety. The waterways were seized by gunmen. As the gunfire gradually ceased, some persons were reported dead.
Alagoa Morris was in Ondewari, a community in Southern Ijaw occupying the same Island with Oporoma. He was there as a human rights activist and an observer in the election.
He said: “I was at Ondewari in Southern Ijaw on Saturday; very early in the morning, we were at the community when we started hearing gunshots from Oporoma axis and you know our community is sharing the same island with Oporoma. We were expecting materials when we started hearing gunshots.
“We called Oporoma because some persons were there ,and they told us that two parties were challenging each other and that they started with throwing stones and from throwing stones they started firing gunshots; some persons fell on the ground and some were injured.
“Some people even said that four persons died but I didn’t see any dead body. some were taken to Yenagoa for treatment. Throughout that day, we waited but there was no material ad no personnel.
“People ran for dear lives. According to one observer, people started running not taking note of who had fallen from the bullet were injured; they just had to run. Many ran into the bush”.
Morris said in some communities, residents abandoned their homes and ran into the bush. He said some observers who were there to cover elections quickly returned to Yenagoa, the state capital.
“It was violence and violence. There was tension all over the place”, he said, adding that measures should be put in place to check militancy on election day. He bemoaned an attempt to use violence to deprive the people their rights to choose their leaders.
“Democracy depicts that a leader emerges through the ballots and not through force of bullet. The law ought not to be allowing so much crime and conflict in the community because I know injustice is also there but then it is because the social institutions are weak and they are in the state of comatose.’’
Morris suggested that materials and personnel for any election should be sent to their various polling units a day before the election, adding that helicopters should be used to deliver materials in a areas notorious for militancy.
Also, another election observer, Odonmini Flint, said Saturday was a clash of two militants’ camps. He said though he was in Ekeowei, a community close to Oporoma, the sounds of gunshots that emanated from the council’s secretariat were deafening.
He said: “I worked as an observer at Southern Ijaw. As at 5:30 am of that Saturday, we started hearing consistent gunshots. of course Oporoma, which is the capital of Southern Ijaw, is a few kilometres away from Ekeowei community and so we heard serious gunshots up till about 6am to 7am. Then I called the INEC officials and they said the militants came in the previous day.”
Apart from Southern Ijaw, Ekeremor Local Government Area was also a flashpoint. It was a day of tragedy for the community. Early in the morning on Saturday, armed militants and thugs stormed the community, well-prepared to wage war against the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri. They engaged the house of the minister and shot continuously at the building. The entire building was reportedly riddled with bullets. As they shot, they advanced to seize the building. But there was a counter fire from soldiers.
Despite the presence of soldiers, the militants did not bulge. When the situation was getting out of hand, the soldiers on ground and other officials of the Federal Government outside Bayelsa called for reinforcement. The militants were eventually repelled and their was a graveyard-like silence.
Following the gunshots, people in Ekeremor ran to different directions for safety. Most of them were so afraid that they could not come out to participate in the electoral process. The temporary silence was shattered again as the gunmen came back again in the evening. Again, they faced the minister’s house as they shot consistently. They were repelled by federal forces.
But the election in Southern ijaw could not hold on Saturday because of widespread violence. The security agencies in a meeting chaired by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hashimu Arugugun, reviewed the Southern Ijaw violence and decided that the poll should be concluded on Sunday.
Arugungu said they had provided enough security to ensure a hitch-free exercise in Southern Ijaw. He said 10 persons involved in the violence that disrupted the electoral process on Saturday had been arrested. Arugugun said contrary to reports, nobody was killed in the area.
He said: “The INEC officials and security agencies met and agreed that the only local government, Southern Ijaw, where the election could not take place due to logistic problems and other few areas where the election could not take place, the election will take place on Sunday, December 6.
“The report that some people were killed cannot be confirmed as corpses of the purported dead persons cannot be traced and their particulars could not be obtained from any source. Information at my disposal is that there was no death in Southern Ijaw local government Area.”
The election was concluded on Sunday but the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Baritor Kpagir, announced its cancellation at the Collation Centre in Yenagoa on Monday when the Chief Returning Officer was waiting for the result of the poll. The action of Kpagir rendered the Bayelsa election ‘inconclusive’, thereby setting the stage for another possible clash of militants.
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