Assembly poll: Tension in Bayelsa as INEC reverses APGA’s victory

There was tension yesterday in Brass, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reversed itself on the state House of Assembly election into Brass Constituency 2.

The Returning Officer, Mr. Perekemor Bathola, a lecturer in the Niger Delta University (NDU), had on Sunday after the rescheduled elections declared Mr. Alfred Watson Belemote of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner.

He had announced that of the 2,805 accredited voters, the APGA candidate scored 849 to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate who scored 380 while the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 476 votes

However in a shocking reversal, INEC said the election was inconclusive and that the returning officer was forced to declare Belemote winner.

Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Mr. Timidi Wariowei, said INEC had decided to suspend the announcement of the result because of conflicting signals from the returning officer.