Breaking news: Seriake Dickson declared Bayelsa gov

Bayelsa State Returning Officer, Prof Joseph Ajienka, Sunday, declared the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Seriake Dickson as winner of the state governorship election.

Announcing the result, Prof Ajienka,Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt said the PDP candidate polled a total of 417,500 votes.

His closest rival, Famous Daunemigha of the CPC, came a distant second with 23,548 votes, followed by the CAP candidate, Dr. Imoro Kubor who scored 22,534 votes while Kemela Okara of the ACN polled 9,627 votes.

Accordingly the state returning officer declared Seriake Dickson of the PDP as the winner of the poll having satisfied the requirement of the law by scoring the highest number of votes.

“Seriake Dickson, Having satisfied the requirement of the law by scoring the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner of the governorship election in Bayelsa State and returned elected,” he said.

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Low turnout of voters in Bayelsa Governorship election

Voting commenced on time in many polling units in Bayelsa in spite of the late arrival and distribution of voting materials.

However, there was generally low turnout of voters in all the polling units visited in the state, a situation that made the INEC officials to complete accreditation on time. .

President Goodluck Jonathan, who voted in his home town Otuoke in Bayelsa at 12.50 p.m., along with his wife Patient and mother, described the election as peaceful and orderly.

On the low turnout, Jonathan said that elections differ from time to time and that people should not expect the turnout in a presidential election to be the same that of a governorship election.

Meanwhile, the PDP candidate in the election Chief Seriake Dickson, voted at 12.15 p.m. in his home town Toru-Orua in the Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

He expressed satisfaction with the performance of INEC in the election and the turnout of voters in his constituency, adding that he was very optimistic of winning the election.

The Action Congress of Nigeria candidate in the election, Mr Kemela Okara, also cast his vote at 1.03 p.m. in his Opotobo Polling unit in Bumoudi in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

He also described the election, so far, as peaceful and orderly.

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Bayelsa guber: Jonathan’s candidate clinches PDP ticket

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made good its promise to hold its gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa State, yesterday, notwithstanding a court order stopping the exercise.

The aspirant believed to be the candidate of President Goodluck Jonathan, Seriake Dickson, won the primaries boycotted by three contenders at the last minute.

Governor Timpre Sylva, shut out of the exercise by the PDP leadership, alongside two high profile aspirants – Mr Timi Alaibe and Mr Ben Bruce – was, last nite, said to be weighing the options open to him ahead of the state’s gubernatorial election scheduled for February, next year.

The primaries themselves were held amid tight security with armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and helicopter gunships deployed in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, where the exercise held.

Dickson polled 365 votes to emerge the winner of the primary election while two other contenders: Doukopla Francis Amaebi and Kalango Youpele, scored one vote each.

Another aspirant, Fred Ekiyegba, scored two votes.

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