Tension heightened on Monday morning in Yenagoa following the takeover of Ijaw House along Sani Abacha Road, which halted the conduct of the election to the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Ijaw National Congress (INC).
A combination of stern-looking armed policemen and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) took over the Ijaw House as early as 7 a.m., preventing people from accessing the premises.
Eight vans loaded with policemen were parked in strategic locations around the building, while DSS operatives were stationed inside the premises.
An aide to one of the candidates, who arrived in a convoy with escorts from the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and who asked for the reason law enforcement agencies barricaded the gate, was told politely by a senior police officer that the order came from the Commissioner of Police.
The Conference of Ijaw Traditional Rulers and Elders (CITRE) had, a few days earlier, passed a resolution suspending the election until further notice, following several petitions against the NEC and the Electoral Committee.
The Chairman of CITRE and Chairman of Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama, had, at a press conference on Sunday, drawn attention to several constitutional breaches by the Prof. Benjamin Okaba-led NEC, which had made the conduct of the elections impossible due to the prevailing tension among delegates.
According to King Dakolo, in line with its constitutional role in the INC Constitution as the final arbiter of disputes, CITRE had written to the Bayelsa State Police Command to ensure there was no gathering of delegates for the election at Ijaw House.
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