The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson, was on Sunday declared the winner of the state governorship election.
Dickson defeated the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, with a margin of 48,146 votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission Returning Officer for the election in the state, Prof. Zana Akpagu, announced at the State Collation Centre in Yenagoa that Dickson polled 134,998 votes to beat Sylva, who scored 86,852 votes.
The state Returning Officer said, “I wish to declare that Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson, with a total votes of 134,998, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scoring the highest votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”
Dickson had in the December 5, 2015 election, secured 105,748 votes while Sylva polled 72,594 votes.
The results from seven local government areas, which were declared, were, however, not enough to declare the incumbent governor the winner of the election due to the cancellation of the election in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which has 120,827 registered voters.
INEC had, on Saturday, January 9, conducted a supplementary governorship election in Southern Ijaw and 101 polling units across six local government areas in Bayelsa State.
The electoral umpire commenced the announcement of the collated results from some affected LGAs at 12am on Sunday.
On the whole, four LGAs of Yenagoa, Ogbia, Sagbama and Brass were announced until some minutes past 2am on Sunday before Akpagu adjourned the exercise until 11am.
Before the adjournment, Dickson polled 2,314 while Sylva secured 2,385 votes in the rerun in the four LGAs.
The breakdown of the results from the four LGAs indicated that in Yenagoa, Dickson polled 839 against Sylva’s 448.
In Brass LGA, the council area of Sylva, the governor scored five votes, while Sylva garnered 1,679 votes.
In Sagbama, Dickson’s LGA, the governor scored 180 while Sylva got 119 votes. In Ogbia LGA, Dickson got 1,290 votes against Sylva’s 139 votes.
In Nembe, the APC candidate polled 1,400 while the PDP candidate scored 1,160 votes.
The summation of the votes cast in the supplementary poll in Nembe and Ekeremor showed that Dickson garnered 3,855 while Sylva got 1,657 votes.
In the highly contentious Southern Ijaw LG, Dickson scored 23,081 votes while Sylva polled 10,216 votes.
About 53,000 votes were cancelled, especially from Southern Ijaw LG.
Responding to his victory in the poll, Dickson thanked the electorate for their gallantry in ensuring his re-election for another four years.
He, however, said there would be no celebration because of the number of lives that were lost in the course of the election.
Dickson, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, on Sunday night in Yenagoa, however, vowed that he would go after the killers during the election and bring them to justice.
He promised to work tirelessly to justify the mandate given to him “as we tried to do in the first four years to almost universal acknowledgement and approbation.”
While extending a hand of fellowship to his political opponents, Dickson said since election had been won and lost, the needs of Bayelsans and the challenge of improving their material condition remained his focus.
He said, “To the extent that the people ensured that they spoke loud and clear and that their choice clearly emerged provide some reassurance that our democracy is coming of age. “Sadly, however, the elections were conducted at the price of several lives lost and mayhem visited on many communities by mindless brigands clearly suborned by those who do not respect the democratic process and have equally scant regard for the sanctity of lives and property.
“Unfortunately, we can’t celebrate because people have died.
“I want to assure you that we will do everything possible to identify the culprits and bring them to justice. I want to express my heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the innocent victims of the violence. The government will be undertaking a full accounting of what happened.
“The mandate you have given us having been clearly demonstrated, I want to assure you that my administration will work tirelessly to justify this mandate as we tried to do in the first four years to almost universal acknowledgement and approbation.”
In its own reaction, the PDP Governors Forum hailed the people of Bayelsa State for standing against what it called brute force and terror unleashed on them in the Saturday supplementary election by the APC.
The governors said this in a statement by the coordinator of the forum, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu, in Abuja.
It hailed the winner of the election, who is a member of the forum, Dickson.
The governors said but for the resilience and determination of the people, the “APC was inordinately out to capture the state as if it was a trophy of war”.
The PDPGF added, “It is unfortunate that a party that came into office through a free and fair process offered by an incumbent has neglected to imbibe democratic tenets by engaging in thuggery and outright violence as if the state is a trophy of war.
“The Bayelsa election is a wake-up call to all Nigerians to reject any extra constitutional means by which the APC intends to cling to power.
“We call on our members in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Edo States to brace in the coming days and show that the PDP is indeed the custodian of democracy as it has done for the past 16 years.”
In another development, however, six persons were feared killed in the volatile Southern Ijaw in a gun battle between rival armed political supporters.
The six persons were reportedly shot dead in a post-election gun battle between supporters of the two leading political parties in Peremabiri community of Southern Ijaw area of the state.
Spokesman for the State Police Command, Asinim Butswat, confirmed that the police had received report of violence in the area.
He, however, could not confirm information on the number of casualties.
Also said to have been shot and left in a critical condition was the Paramount Ruler of the community, Chief Progress Neverdie, who was reportedly shot in the head.
A cousin of the shot monarch, Mr. Alfred Olotu, alleged that a prominent ex-militant leader from the community led armed men in the bloody battle.
Reacting to the results, however, the APC State agent, Dennis Otiotio, described the outcome of the election as a breach of laid down rules.
Otiotio argued that the number of votes cancelled surpassed the number of the margine between Dickson and Sylva, saying the election ought to have been declared inconclusive.
He added, “It was an abuse of the process from the beginning to this point because Section 36 of the Electoral Act is very clear. It states that where the difference between the winner and the runner-up is less than the number of total votes cancelled, the electoral officer is not supposed to make a return.
“In this case, the total number of voided votes is about 53,000 while the difference between the PDP and the APC is 48,156. In this circumstance, the Returning Officer is not supposed to declare any winner.
“We have about two national commissioners and three assistant national commissioners here but he (Returning Officer) has gone ahead in further disregard of Section 46 of the Electoral Act to declare the winner.
“Secondly, we have made protests on several issues. One, the undue discretionary powers exercised by the ad hoc staff in cancelling votes, where the APC won. In the process of delivering electoral materials, there were hijackings; widespread election malpractices also took place.
“In Southern Ijaw, several materials were hijacked; they never arrived at their destination; results were just brought here.”
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