DICKSON WINS BAYELSA'S GUBER ELECTION

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr
Seriake Dickson has been declared winner of the
Bayelsa State governorship election by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Dickson polled 134,998 votes to emerge winner of the
election. Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Mr Timipre Sylva, scored 86,852 votes to place second.

“Henry Dickson Seriake, having satisfied the requirements of
the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby
declared the winner and is returned elected. This is signed
by the returning officer dated this 10th day of January 2016,”

the Returning Officer said.

INEC had revised its guidelines for the re-run of the
governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government
Area of Bayelsa State.

The Commission said all the parties had given their consent
to the revised guidelines, which it believes would help to
fast-track the exercise on Saturday, January 9.

According to the new document, accreditation and voting
will go on simultaneously.

After taking results from four local government areas where
governorship re-run election was held in Bayelsa State, the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
commenced the collation of the final results in the early
hours of Sunday between 12:00am and 2:00am local time.

After the results from Ogbia were announced the electoral
body said it would take a break and reconvene in the
morning by 11:00am.

In the declared results, the All Progressives Congress (APC)
scored 448 votes in Yenagoa LGA while the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) polled 839.

In Brass LGA, APC had 1,679 and the PDP got 5. In Sagbama
LGA, APC scored 119 , PDP, 180 while APC had 139 in Ogbia
LGA with PDP polling 1,290 votes.

On resumption, it was declared that in Ekeremor Local
Government Area, the PDP polled a total of 2,695 votes,
while the APC recorded 257 votes.

In Nembe, the PDP had 1,160 votes while the APC polled 1,
400 votes.

The result for Southern Ijaw was finally announced on
Sunday evening around 7:00PM local time. The PDP scored a
total of 23,081 votes, while APC scored 10,216.

The collation officer also reported that elections did not take
place in Kolana Ward 17 because voting materials arrived
very late and had to be returned.
“Severe Militant Activities”

The INEC had declared the Bayelsa election inconclusive
after it rescheduled the governorship election in Southern
Ijaw for January 9.

Professor Mustapha Leki announced the rescheduled
election at the headquarters of INEC in Yenagoa, the capital
of the State.

He said the INEC experienced major disturbances and
challenges in a number of places, especially the Southern
Ijaw Local Government Area.

“These were occasioned as a result of severe militant
activities. As a result of this development and working in
conjunction with security agencies, our first concern is to
take steps to stabilise the situation to ensure the safety of
electoral officials and the security of materials,” he told
reporters.

After INEC rescheduled the election, the major candidates –
the incumbent Governor, Seriake Dickson of the Peoples
Democratic Party and the candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Mr Timipre Sylva – expressed displeasure
with the circumstance that led to the cancellation of election
in the area.

While the incumbent governor said he had set up a judicial
commission of enquiry to examine the alleged violence and
thuggery during the governorship election, the APC
candidate said the action of the election umpire was a rape
on democracy that had denied the people of Bayelsa the
right to choose their leaders.