#BayelsaDecides: Tension As Dickson, Sylva Win Strongholds

PDP wins Yenagoa, Ogbia,
Sagbama; APC sweeps Brass LG
INEC declares fresh results
at 11.00 am today
Reports says, over '14 killed' on polling day, but
Police claims, 'No one died during
supplementary elections'
Ballot-box snatching, violence mar elections..
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State
yesterday maintained his lead in the
supplementary governorship election in the state
as the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) released official results from
Yenagoa,Brass,Sagbama and Ogbia local
Government areas.
Dickson won in Yenagoa ,Sagbama and Ogbia
while Sylva was the clear winner in Brass.
In Yenagoa Local Government Area Dickson
polled 839 votes to Sylva’s 448.
The consolidated results for Yenagoa showed
that the governor got 25,097 as against Sylva’s
15,011.
Sylva,on the other hand recorded 1679 votes in
six polling units in his local government area –
Brass – to bring his total there to 23,434 votes.
Dickson got only five votes in the area.
Altogether his votes in Brass now stand at 6517.
In Ogbia, local government area of former
President Goodluck Jonathan,1290 voters in 27
polling units threw their lot with
Dickson,extending his lead there from 13051 to
14341 votes. Sylva got 139 votes leaving his
total votes in Ogbia at 9249.
Dickson got 180 votes in Sagbama Local
Government area and Sylva 111.
The commission took a break at 2am this
morning and is expected to resume at 11am
today for the declaration of the results for
Nembe, Ekeremor and the decisive Southern Ijaw
.
Southern Ijaw has the largest number of voters
in the state,almost same as the seven other
local government areas put together.
Before the break, the APC agent in Brass, Mr.
Denis Otiotio,had staged a walkout from the
collation centre after accusing the Returning
Officer of denying him an opportunity to address
issues raised by the PDP agent.
Hours before INEC began to broadcast the
result,the PDP and the APC had launched into a
game of wits with the camps of Governor
Dickson and Chief Sylva of the APC claiming
victory for their candidates.
The PDP made the first move when it said in a
statement issued from the Government
House,Yenagoa that Dickson was leading in the
supplementary election in the Southern Ijaw
Local Government Area and 101 units.
The party said the results collated by it in
various polling units and wards across the state
showed that Dickson had widened its initial lead
of over 33000 votes.
It claimed to have swept the polls in units and
wards in Amassoma, Otuan, Ogbia, Nembe
Ogbolomabiri, Ekpetiama and some other
communities.
It said: ''The PDP, as at the time of filing this
report ,polled 7,234 votes while APC is having
1,948 votes. Decentralization of election
materials policy adopted by the Independent
National Election Commission, (INEC) assisted in
the early arrival of materials in some
communities, even though there were reported
cases of hijacking of election materials and
violence in some areas.
''Voters, as reliably informed, were resolute in
their determination to put the governorship
election behind them which was declared
inconclusive by INEC on December, 5 and 6,
2015.
''To ensure the success of the poll, the Nigeria
Police Force deployed 5,000 officers to the
various polling units across the state.
''Political thugs suspected to be working for
the leading opposition party were not deterred
by the presence of the security operatives, as
they unleashed terror on Ekeremor, Famgbe and
Nembe communities.''
But the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organization
(SICO) alerted security agencies to an alleged
plot by Governor. Seriake Dickson, to seize
broadcast stations and declare himself the
winner of the poll.
SICO in a statement signed by its Director,
Media and Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba appealed
to security agencies to ensure that no one uses
any of the broadcast stations in the state to
either announce election result or incite people
against the opposing political parties or the
Federal Government.
Egba said: ''It would be recalled that Governor
Seriake Dickson of the PDP regrettably deployed
the state owned radio station, Glory 97.1FM,
Yenagoa and other broadcast stations to
heighten the tension and incite the people to
violence in the aftermath of the botched
December 5th and 6th governorship poll.
''We decided to raise the issue to draw
attention to the ongoing desperate attempts of
Governor Dickson to arbitrarily announce a
concocted results through the social media and
state –owned media organisations and declare
himself winner of the governorship election.
''For the avoidance of doubt, it is to be noted
that the purported attempts of Governor Dickson
to either by himself, cronies or agents to declare
himself winner is clearly in contravention of the
Electoral Act as amended and also
unconstitutional to the extent that such an
action offends the clear provisions of the 1999
constitution that established the Independent
National Electoral Commission,(INEC).''
Egba also asked Dickson to consider the
criminal consequences of any attempt to declare
himself as winner of the election, saying it
would amount to usurping the powers of the
electoral body, INEC.
Soon after his reaction to the PDP claim,Egba
issued APC’s own account of the election result
saying early results from the rerun election
indicated that Sylva was in the lead.
He said Sylva had effectively cancelled the
33,150 votes with which Dickson led in the
inconclusive December 5th and 6th election.
Sylva,according to Egba, secured majority votes
in Bassambiri in Nembe Local Government
Area,Akassa and Liama in Brass LGA, Ekeremor
LGA and the few results so far from Southern
Ijaw LGA.
His words: ''In Brass LGA, APC polled 1,696
votes, followed by the PDM which had 12 votes
and the PDP with 5 votes while in Bassambiri,
APC had 2,184 votes while PDP scored 3 votes.
''PDP won in the only polling unit in Nembe-
Ogbolomabiri through manipulation with 426
votes while APC was awarded 6 votes. In Oguta-
Otuokpotiof Ogbia LGA, APC had 332 votes while
PDP scored 10 votes.
''In Ekeremor, home town of the Minister of
State for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, APC had a good
showing by returning over 80 per cent of the
total vote cast from over 13,000 expected votes.
''In ward 17 of Southern Ijaw Local
Government Area, the result was in favour of the
APC with well over 70 per cent of the vote cast.''
Egba said the APC members were excited about
the results trickling in since Saturday evening
and urged members and supporters to be
upbeat in anticipation of a total victory in the
election.