Dickson wins Bayelsa governorship election

The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Seriake Dickson, was on Sunday declared winner of the Bayelsa State governorship election.

Dickson polled 417,500 votes to defeat the Change Advocacy Party candidate, Dr. Imoru Kubor, who came a distant second with 22,534 votes.

The candidates for the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Kemela Okara and his Congress for Progressive Change counterpart, Mr. Famous Daunemugha, came third and fourth with 9,627 and 3,545 votes respectively.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, declared Dickson as the governor of the state, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes cast.

A breakdown of the result showed that Dickson defeated other candidates in each of the eight local government areas with a wide margin.

In Ekeremor, the Local Government Area of Daunemugha, Dickson polled 55,044 votes while the CPC candidate scored 2,044 in an area considered as his stronghold.

Okara was also defeated in his Yenagoa Local Government Area as the PDP candidate secured 61,820 while the ACN candidate got 1,848 votes.

A further breakdown showed that in Ogbia Local Government Area, the council of President Goodluck Jonathan, PDP scored 50,848; CAP, 1,277 and ACN 1,085.

But ACN rejected the result describing it as “bracing attempts by the PDP to manipulate the will of the people after the election in the state.”

The Campaign Director of the party, Mr. Miriki Ebikibina, alleged that the PDP used what he referred to as “digital rigging technique” to perpetuate itself in power.

“There was a low turnout of voters on Saturday. We all saw it and it was widely reported. But we don’t know where INEC churned out the figures it used to declare the PDP winner of the election,” he said.

Okara said he would decide his next line of action after studying the results, but alleging that the election marred by irregularities and violence in some parts of the state.

He also alleged that the PDP induced voters with money ranging from N1,500 and N2,000 in most polling units.

Dickson urged all candidates to collaborate with him in his agenda to transform the state.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday hailed Dickson’s victory.

Jonathan in a statement by his Special Adviser, Dr. Reuben Abati, urged Dickson to provide a result-oriented leadership to the people of the state.