The Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson on Friday put the
average statistics of the voters that took part in the December 5, 2015,
governorship election at 40 per cent, contrary to the claim of the All
Progressives Congress, (APC) candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva.
He made the clarification while featuring on a live interview programme,
‘Focus Nigeria’ aired on Africa Independent Television (AIT) saying the
statistics is not peculiar to Bayelsa State.
Dickson said having won six out of seven LGs declared by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), with a wide margin, he should be
declared the winner of the election and not the APC candidate.
Giving a breakdown of the statistical voting pattern in the last election,
Governor Dickson said, Sagbama LG had a total number of 83,000 registered
voters and the number of PVCs collected was 73,000, while 35,000 voters
were accredited, same for Ogbia and Ekeremor LGAs.
According to him, the number of registered voters in Brass local
government stood at 55,000 while the votes cast was 29, 000 which is about
the highest.
While commending INEC for the introduction of the PVCs, Dickson stated
that, Ofoni community which is PDP’s stronghold, with a voting strength of
14,000, but only about 3,000 voted, out of which he scored about 2,500.
“Southern Ijaw has 120, 827registered voters with 17 wards. Yenagoa is the
largest with over 135,000 voting population less than 45,000 turned up for
the election”, he emphasised.
The governor pointed out that, with pockets of violence recorded on
December 5 and 6, 2015, the turn out may be low for the re-run, adding
that he would record a convincing victory in the area going by the level
of consultations with relevant stakeholders from the local government.
He said, “I have been engaging with various stakeholders, chiefs, women
and youth groups from the area and over 5,000 members of the APC recently
decamped to the PDP. With this development and assurance that this time
around, there will be no reign of terror and materials will get to their
communities.
“I am hoping that the percentage of the voters’ turn out will be higher
than the 40% that we have already seen as the average.”
X-raying the political situation in Bayelsa State, Governor Dickson
attributed the violence and fraud that marred the election in some areas,
especially in Southern Ijaw to lack of respect for various institutions of
government.
He, therefore, called for collaborative efforts from well meaning
Nigerians towards proffering solutions that would strengthen the critical
institutions of the country, to enable them function effectively.