A former Councillor representing Ward 12 in the Bonny Legislative Assembly, Solomon Pollyn has debunked rumours that his younger cousin was missing during the just concluded elections in Kalaibiama, Bonny LGA in Rivers State.

Pollyn, who came out with this on Monday, March 20, 2023 in a telephone interview with Kristina Reports, described the rumours as unfounded, baseless, and “nothing but falsehood from the opposition party,” noting that the person in question is his cousin and is alive and well.

In his narration of what transpired on the fateful day, he revealed that, as a domestic observer and coordinator, he was in Ward 12, Unit 9, which is Forupa-Ama when some INEC ad hoc officials were ambushed by youths of Bregede Community, and he had to intervene to salvage the situation by addressing the youths.

He said while that engagement was ongoing, military personnel in gunboats, who were providing armed escort for staff of an oil company operating around the Cawthorne Channel, were passing by the community and seeing the situation signaled them, demanding  released some gunshots into the air to alert them of their presence, noting that, as a result of the panic created, the young man, who he said was his second cousin, dived into the water.

“I was a domestic observer, as well as, the Coordinator of Unit 9, Ward 12, where the said person was sent as a Unit Agent of his party, the APC. To be precise, this was on the 18th of March, 2023. We were there when the youths of a nearby fishing settlement, Bregede, ambushed the INEC ad hoc staff and other officials.”

“On reaching there, as a unit coordinator and domestic observer, I intervened and start brokering or maintaining peace by addressing the youths of that fishing settlement, when we saw gunboats passing with company personnel because that fishing settlement or community is close to Cawthorne Channel and it’s an environment where company activities are taking place.”

“Now, because the boat we came with and other activities around there were strange to them, the security personnel alerted everyone of their presence by putting up warning signals, wanting to know where the boats came from; at that premise, the signal of the security gunboats that was released by gunfire created alert to everyone of us.”

“And the young man, who happens to be my second cousin, with other community dwellers went off the water or the river bank; all attempts to get in touch with failed as he was called severally but he never came out to join the boat.”

He stated that unknown to them, the young man had sneaked into the boat that conveyed the INEC personnel to Finima Community and from there got back to Bonny, stressing that everyone and every electoral material they went with were safe as they returned to Bonny.

“So, the rumour is not true; it’s false and we cannot play politics with human life. Everything must not be used as an instrument of politics. All INEC personnel were saved, materials were saved, materials were intact; as a matter of fact, sorting and collation was done in the same venue. So, the said person never got missing.”

“So, the story of someone missing in Bonny Local Government is a big lie, a fallacy from the pit of hell. He’s my second cousin and I speak as a reliable source. That same day, he was ferried down to Finima from Bregede; from that fishing settlement to Amariari and from there to Finima and Bonny Main Town.”

The ex-lawmaker, who described the entire turnout of events as “a failure on the part of the All Progressive Congress to provide adequate logistics for its agents, and in a bid to justify self, hence the claim, advising the party to desist from purveying falsehood, adding that “it’s not a healthy one for a growing democracy”.

Efforts to get the reaction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was yet unsuccessful as messages sent to its Chairman in Bonny LGA, Bobby Pollyn were yet to get a response as at the time of this report.