Governor Seriakae Dickson was yesterday
returned as the winner of the Bayelsa State
governorship election. This followed the
declaration of the results of the supplementary
elections conducted at the weekend in Southern
Ijaw Local Government Area and 101 polling units
in six other local government areas. The
supplementary elections followed the cancellation
of the election in Southern Ijaw and the 101 units
due to irregularities in the governorship election
conducted on December 5, 2015.

Dickson, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, polled 134,998 votes to triumph over his predecessor and
candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timipre Sylva
who polled 86,852 votes. A total of 242,114 votes were cast in the
election out of which 6,647 votes were rejected as invalid.
Moses Siasia, a younger brother of Nigeria’s Under 23 football
coach, Samson Siasia, who was the candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Movement, PDM, took a distant third with 1,572 votes
despite a high-profile campaign.

The declaration of the final results by the returning officer,
Professor Zana Akpagu commenced shortly after 8.00 p.m. last
night and punctured the high drama and suspense that had held
many of the state’s political stakeholders for most of yesterday.

The agents of the PDP, Chief Fred Agbedi and that of the APC,
Barrister Dennis Otiotio had in the course of the day at the collation
centre, Yenagoa, repeatedly exchanged accusations over
the conduct of the supplementary elections in Southern Ijaw Local
Government Area and some other units where the elections were
cancelled last December.

Earlier in the day, the returning officer for Southern Ijaw Local
Government Area, Dr. Johnson Dagana had declared the result of
the election in the local government area putting Dickson as the
winner of the contest in the area with 23,2081 votes. Sylva, who
had earlier linked his victory in the governorship election to the
amassing of significant votes to wipe away the 30,000 plus lead of
Dickson, garnered last December. However, he failed to record the
upset in the local government area.

In the end, he got only 10,216 votes out of the 33,607 valid votes
cast in the local government area that is also the base of Dickson’s
late patron and first civilian governor of the state, Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha.

Following the declaration of the results, Barrister Otiotio, agent of
the APC candidate immediately renounced the declaration of
Dickson as the winner, saying the election should have been
declared inconclusive on the claim that the difference between the
two leading candidates was less than the number of cancelled
votes. He also alleged irregularities in voting in some sections of
the state.

His claim was immediately dismissed by Agbedi, the PDP agent
who blamed the irregularities on the APC even as he acclaimed the
performance of Dickson as the reason for the PDP victory.

Ekweremadu congratulates Dickson
Following the declaration of the results, the Deputy President of the
Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the highest elected PDP official
in theFederal Government, congratulated Dickson saying the
victory was sweet.

He said: “It is a sweet victory, coming against all odds. It is a
testimony to the performance and popularity of Governor Seriake
Dickson and our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

“I commend the people of Bayelsa State for standing up to be
counted, for protecting their democratic rights to freely choose
their leaders. They have made a resounding statement to the effect
that the state remains a PDP enclave and that they are committed
to keeping it so.”

He, however, charged Governor Dickson to repay Bayelsans for
their faith in the PDP and his leadership credentials with greater
transformation in his second term.

He also enjoined him to reach out to his opponents for the peace
and progress of the state, while ensuring that every part of the
state is fairly treated irrespective of their political choices.

The state chapter of the PDP, however, rued what it described as
the cost of human lives it took the party to achieve victory.
The party stated this through the Director of Publicity, Restoration
Campaign Organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, shortly after the
declaration of the results.

“It is clear that this victory has come with so much pain because
we lost dear ones. Those who died are our brothers. So many are
yet in the hospitals nursing life-threatening injuries because our
opponents wanted to win at all cost. We wish to express our
deepest condolences once again and to assure them that their
death will not be in vain”, it stated.

Obuebite who noted that the victory was important because it
came the way of the PDP even in the face of intimidation, tyranny,
threats and violent attacks, added that “despite the challenges,
democracy won.”

He said: “We want to use this opportunity to sincerely thank all
Bayelsans for their doggedness and patriotism because even in the
face of such terrible intimidation and violence decided, out of their
own volition, they came out to re-elect and return the Countryman
Governor to office for the next four years. We are grateful for your
remarkable decision as expected in a democracy.”

In his acceptance speech, Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake
Dickson, thanked the electorate for ensuring his re-election for
another four years but said there would be no celebration because
of the number of lives that have been lost.

The governor in an emotion-laden statement signed by his Chief
Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, released to journalists
last night in Yenagoa, however, vowed that he would do everything
possible to identify the perpetrators 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 the election has been won and lost, the needs
of Bayelsans, the challenge of improving their material condition
remains and is, even more, urgent.

The text of the Governor’s statement reads thus: “My good people
of Bayelsa State, I am extremely humbled tonight on the valiant
efforts you made to revalidate the mandate you gave me four
years ago. With all manner of forces arrayed against us not least
the utter desperation of our political opponents, community after
community led by women and youth stood gallantly to defend the
sanctity of their votes and to resist the efforts of hoodlums who
style themselves as “militants” to undermine the democratic
process.

“To the extent that the people ensured that they spoke loud and
clear and that their choice clearly emerged provides 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
account 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.

The present economic climate in the country may be very harsh
with the precipitous slide in oil revenues but I want to assure you
that we will courageously tackle the challenges of economic and
social development with renewed vigour.

“Here I will like to extend a hand of fellowship to our political
opponents. The election has been won and lost but the needs of
our people, the challenge of improving their material condition
remains and is, even more, urgent. That should now be the focus
of all our attention and efforts.
“God bless the valiant people of Bayelsa.”

http://saharareporters.com/2016/01/10/bayelsadecides-how-dickson-won-bayelsa-gov-poll

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Hahahaa finally am FTC...well done PDP...they tot der fed pawa can subdue us

k