Bayelsa election peaceful but witnessed late arrival of materials — Observers

An accredited election observers group, SING Nigeria, has said that last Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State was peaceful, as voters conducted themselves in an orderly manner. The executive director of the group, Mr Idris-Etanami Abiodun Usman, while presenting the preliminary report of their observations during the election in Yenagoa, added that smartcard reader machines […]

An accredited election observers group, SING Nigeria, has said that last Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State was peaceful, as voters conducted themselves in an orderly manner.

The executive director of the group, Mr Idris-Etanami Abiodun Usman, while presenting the preliminary report of their observations during the election in Yenagoa, added that smartcard reader machines worked well and the conduct of voters was reasonably peaceful.

He said: “During the visit, we observed that there was a strong presence of security operatives in the state which gave the people confidence to go out and exercise their franchise.

“The peculiar terrain of the state, coupled with the poor state of infrastructure, meant that the elections were always going to be characterised by several bottlenecks, that are manifested in the late arrival of officials and materials to the polling units and voting points

“A thriving democracy goes much deeper than the periodic cycles of conducting elections, even though election represent the starting point of democratic governance,” he said.