Bayelsa Governorship Election Results
Newsonline Nigeria reports that November 11, 2023 is election day in Bayelsa State, Nigeria’s South South and Newsonline Nigeria team are on ground to bring you all the live updates and happenings.
This Nigeria news platform understands that the people of Bayelsa State will go to the polls today to elect a new governor – or keep the current one; Governor Duoye Diri who is seeking a second term under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Bayelsa State has eight local government areas including Brass, Ekeremo, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw, and Yenagoa.
The total number of registered voters for the governorship election is 1,056,862, according to the electoral body, INEC. The commission said 1,017,613 registered voters have collected their PVCs ahead of the election while 39,249 PVCs were not collected.
A total of 16 candidates are jostling for the topmost position in the oil-rich state.
Newsonline Nigeria analysis shows that Bayelsa State poses an interesting governorship contest due to the presence of an incumbent governor seeking re-election and a former governor seeking a return to office.
Governor Duoye Diri is seeking a second term under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while Timipre Sylva wants to get a last term on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Both candidates are strong and expected to make a considerable showing in the race.
The Labour Party fielded Eradiri Udengmobofa as its flag bearer.
Two of the 16 governorship candidates (12.5 per cent) running in Saturday’s election are women.
Oguara Nengimonyo, 41, is the candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), while 37-year-old Ogege Mercy is the candidate of the Action Peoples Party (APP). Both have SSCE as the highest academic qualification, according to information obtained from the electoral body INEC.
Idikio Jones is the candidate of the Accord Party, Bufumoh Alex is of the Action Alliance (AA), and Kalango Davies is running under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) put its bet on Subiri Joseph, the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has its weight behind Osharikeni Saturday, and the Boot Party (BP) settled for 41-year-old Ben Magbodo.
The governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is Azebi Ayabeke while Micah Akeems is the candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
In the same vein, Ozato Erepadei is the flagbearer of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP).
Osuluku Binaleyefa, 42, a senior lawyer, is the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) while the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) has Simeon Karrioru as its candidate.
As the 16 candidates get set to test their popularity on Saturday, Newsonline Nigeria can report that the contest is primarily expected to be a two-horse race between Governor Diri and former Governor Sylva of the APC.
The PDP in Bayelsa has a stronghold in the federal legislature. All three senators and five representatives are from the party and it is largely expected to maintain a decent showing in the coming election.
Profile of the two main candidates
Mr Diri, 63, hails from Sampuo, a community in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state. He attended Okoro Basic School Sampou before transferring to Rev. Proctor Memorial Primary School Kaima. After graduating from the Government Secondary School in Odi, he obtained a West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) diploma.
Mr Diri earned a Bachelor of Education in Political Science from the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.
He served as a senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District from 2019 to 2020. Mr Diri became governor after the Supreme Court annulled the election of David Lyon, candidate of the APC, who was declared the winner of the gubernatorial poll in November 2019.
The court sacked Mr Lyon barely 24 hours before he was to be sworn into office. The APC candidate was already rehearsing ahead of his inauguration when the news reached him at a stadium.
Reacting to the court ruling at the time, Mr Diri described himself as a “miracle governor”. “We’ve been in the wilderness. We’ve gone through a tortuous and winding road and at the end of the day, God himself delivered us. So, I have christened myself the miracle governor,” he said.
Analysts believe Mr Diri enjoys the support of the PDP members in the state, having won the party’s ticket through consensus in April 2023.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from Bayelsa, has endorsed Mr Diri whom he said deserves a second term because of the “stability” of the state.
“I have been in touch with our governor and I believe he should be encouraged to do his eight years. He has been able to stabilise the state.
“Let us find a standard way of doing things. We cannot kill ourselves; we do not want crisis,” Mr Jonathan told the PDP Bayelsa National Governorship Campaign Council and other party leaders who visited him at his country home on Tuesday.
It is unclear what electoral fortune could come out of Mr Jonathan’s endorsement of Mr Diri.
Mr Sylva was born in Brass in 1964. He is from Brass in eastern Bayelsa State.
He was elected and sworn into office as executive governor of the state in April 2007. Mr Sylva served for about a year until the election was nullified, and a rerun declared. He won the rerun and was sworn in again on May 24, 2008, serving four more years.
Mr Sylva has become a household name in the politics of Bayelsa State. He is the immediate past minister of state for petroleum resources.
Before his first term as a governor and minister, Mr Sylva won a seat in the House of Assembly Election representing Brass constituency in old Rivers State in 1992. At the time, he was the youngest of all the members of the House of Assembly.
Mr Sylva is seeking a second term in the 11 November election.
Earlier last month, a federal high court in Abuja disqualified Mr Sylva from contesting Saturday’s election.
Donatus Okorowo, the presiding judge, held that Mr Sylva, having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of the state, would breach the 1999 constitution if allowed to contest again.
The judge said Mr Sylva is not qualified to run, because if he wins and is sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.
However, the ruling of the high court was overturned by an appeal court in Abuja.
In reversing Mr Sylva’s disqualification, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the trial court which nullified Mr Sylva’s candidature lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who was not an aspirant in the primaries that produced the former minister as the APC governorship candidate.
Newsonline Nigeria is currently in the state that prides itself as the “Glory of all lands” and will bring you live updates,analysis, situation reports from the governorship election…….Please stay connected with us by always refreshing this page
1:30 pm. PDP agent shares N5,000 to electorates at Polling Unit 6, Ward 4, Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa State.
More Updates Coming Soon……………Keep Refreshing Page
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