2019 Governorship election Results and the will of Bayelsans in the 2023 November 11th Guber Polls in Bayelsa – Nothing has Changed, Same Results might play out

BACKGROUND:

In the 2019 Governorship election in Bayelsa State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate was declared winner based on the massive support from the masses to end a draconian leadership style of the PDP administration in the state.

It was on a Monday morning, the 18th day of November 2019 when the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin and the returning officer in the 2019 Bayelsa Gubernatorial election, Professor Faraday Orumwese after upholding the will of the people of Bayelsans declared the APC Candidate the winner of the poll after scoring 352,552 votes.

Professor Faraday Orumwese declared that the APC polled 352,552 votes to defeat the current Governor of Bayelsa, Sen. Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 143, 172 votes.

NAIJA LIVE TV recalled that, the total number of registered voters was announced as 922, 562 and the number of accredited voters was put at 517,883.

The APC won the 2019 Governorship Polls in 6 of the 8 local governments in Bayelsa state.

BREAKDOWN OF THE RESULTS BY LGA’s

EKEREMOR LGA: In the results announced for Ekeremo local government, the number of registered voters was announced as 125,189 while accredited voters were 41,423. In the local government, the APC won by polling 21,489 votes while the PDP polled 18,344 votes.

SOUTHERN IJAW LGA: In Southern Ijaw local government, the APC candidate polled 124,803 votes to defeat his closest rival in PDP who polled 4,898 votes. The APC candidate hails from the local government.

NEMBE LGA: The APC also defeated the PDP Douye Diri in Nembe by polling 83,041 votes. While the incumbent governor Diri polled 874 votes in the local government.

KOLOKUMA/OPOKUMA LGA: In Kolokuma/Opokuma, the APC had 8,934 votes while the PDP had 15,360.

SAGBAMA LGA: In Sagbama, the PDP polled 60,339 votes while the APC polled 7,831.

BRASS LGA: In Brass, the APC polled 23,831 votes while the PDP polled 10,410 votes.

OGBIA LGA: In Ogbia, the PDP polled 13,763 votes while the APC polled 58,016 votes.

YENAGOA LGA: In Yenagoa, the APC polled 24,607 votes while the PDP polled 19,184 votes.

The total number of votes cast was put at 505,884; rejected votes were 6,333; and number of valid votes were put at 499,511.

The APC having satisfied the requirement of the law was declared winner and returned elected

HOW DIRI WAS MADE ACCIDENT GOVERNOR

After APC won Six out Of Eight LGA…

Residents of Bayelsa had taken to various polling units in their respective wards to cast their ballots in a bid to elect a new governor to succeed Seriake Dickson who was about to complete his second term as governor of the state then in 2019.

Dickson had supported Douye Diri to succeed him in his bid to ensure the PDP continues to rule in Bayelsa, following the exit of the state’s former governor Chief Timipre Sylva from office in 2012.

Dickson was however, unable to achieve this as Douye Diri suffered mass defeat to his APC rival with a difference of over 180,000 votes in the 2019 Bayelsa Gubernatorial elections.

THE SUPREME COURT’S MANIPULATIONS

The judgement summary contains the nine major decisions that make up the ruling of the apex court with regards to the election.

A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to the All Progressives Congress’ candidate (Lyon) as the winner of the November 16, 2019 governorship election in the state.

The Apex Court ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to the candidate of the party with the next highest votes and with the required constitutional spread of votes in the results of the election.

See the enrolled order below:

OUR VERDICT

1. (1) The issue of multiple names on the certificates of David Lyon’s running mate was a technical ground for disqualifying and overturning the victory of APC was uncalled for. Nobody was claiming to own the names attributed to him.

1. (2) The judgement has no precedence in our jurisprudence. It is immoral for the Supreme Court to decide such a weighty matter on technical grounds. It is not surprising therefore that the Supreme Court overreached itself.

1. (3) The 2/3rds rule is not being followed in the case of Bayelsa State. Governor Douye Diri won only Kolokuma/ Opokuma and Sagbama LGAs out of 8 LGAs. This matter is still being contested in court. The Supreme Court over looked all these grey areas.

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