ACN TASKS INEC OVER BAYELSA BYE-ELECTION, FLAYS CELEBRATION OF PEACE DAY

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the forthcoming Yenagoa Constituency 11, Bayelsa House of Assembly seat scheduled for Saturday, August 28.

The party warned that it would not allow any malpractices during the election as it would ensure that the one man, one vote rule was implemented.

The ACN in a statement signed by Mr. Miriki Ebikibina, while commending President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the Electoral Bill into law noted that the August 28 bye-election would serve as a litmus test for INEC ahead of credible elections in 2011.

On the Bayelsa Peace Day Celebration dedicated to remember the day Bayelsa militants surrendered their arms and embraced amnesty, the party said only 'glamourised peace' existed in the state.

According to ACN, the prevailing poverty and hunger among Bayelsans was a pointer that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government had lost grasp of state of affairs. The statement read in part: 'ACN considers the celebration as another jamboree and wastage of public funds, when the relative peace and security of the state was recently threatened with the various unresolved aggrieved political intrigues, polarizing the state polity, an aftermath of the recent attacks, bombings and killing of defenceless citizens of the state.

'The celebration of peace day would have been justified if the government had genuinely and sincerely addressed all the polarized conflicts and frontally tackled the issue of underdevelopment, as it is the lack of trust on government policies that has left our able, dynamic, energetic and usually focused youths as easy prey to all manner of marauding crusaders in the name of Niger Delta patriotism.

'The huge funds earmarked for the jamboree would have helped greatly to resolve some grievances and agitations of the ex-militants in the state. The peace day calls for sober reflection and reconciliation and not another jamboree.'

Ebikibina hinted that the party had put machinery in motion to wrest power from the grips of the PDP in 2011.

He disclosed that the ACN had been holding series of stakeholders' meetings in the bid to strategize and reposition the party ahead of the 2011 which it would hopefully win.

Ebikibina explained that with the obvious failure of the PDP government, the ACN membership profile was on the increase, stressing that the party would sustain the current tempo by embarking on effective membership drive and field-credible candidates in the 2011 elections to rid the state of the PDP government.