‘Extent of Bayelsa gov’ship poll violence frightening’

The Nigeria Election Violence Report (NEVR), a project coordinated by Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), has said that last Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State fell below acceptable standard.

The NEVR Coordinator and Executive Director of KDI, Bukola Idowu, who led the team that observed the election, stated this while addressing a press conference in Osogbo on the Bayelsa poll. Idowu said the extent of violence that characterised the election was frightening and called for setting up of special electoral court to prosecute electoral offenders.

“We need special electoral court where perpetrators of election violence would be made to face the music and receive appropriate punishment. The killings in Bayelsa State in the name of election are not acceptable,” he said.

He expressed concern that with the way perpetrators of election offences were rewarded by politicians, the problem of election violence would persist unless the violators are apprehended and sanctioned accordingly.