"If the governments decide to go ahead with the appointment of Hon. Ball Oyarede as BYSIEC Chairman, as leaders of the various opposition parties in Bayelsa State, we have no option but to boycott the entire process of the local government elections."
Thirty-Two political parties in Bayelsa State have threatened to boycott council poll following the controversial that surround the appointment of a new Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (BYSIEC).
They rejected the Mr. Ball Oyarede, who until his appointment was a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a member of the state's House of Assembly.
The aggrieved political parties, under the aegis of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), the rejection was based on the fact that an umpire of BYSIEC, which is supposed to be an independent body to conduct free and fair elections into the local government areas in the state, has been eroded and therefore not acceptable by the opposition parties in Bayelsa State.
The opposition parties, in a communique issued yesterday after an emergency meeting and signed by the Chairman of IPAC, Eneyi Zidougha and Chairman of the CNPP, Golden Agagowei, declared: "It is our belief that the governor of Bayelsa State who is a lawyer and former commissioner of justice in the state, a former parliamentarian and governor should know better, that this is against the Electoral Act of 2010 as amended."
"If the governments decide to go ahead with the appointment of Hon. Ball Oyarede as BYSIEC Chairman, as leaders of the various opposition parties in Bayelsa State, we have no option but to boycott the entire process of the local government elections."
"We, therefore, advise the government on the above premises to look for a more capable hand, preferably from the academia to be appointed to head BYSIEC with urgency in other to meet with the scheduled time table for the local council elections."