By Fidelis Igbogi
Ordinarily, there should not have been any contest as to the true winner of the November 11, 2023 Gubernatorial Election in Bayelsa State.
The data, before and after the elections, clearly showed the people’s preference among the 16 candidates to be Governor Douye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Yes, the results of the different survey conducted ahead of the election were unambiguous. Incumbent Governor, Senator Douye Diri was after all going to win convincingly in all the eight Local Government Areas.
Gov. Diri and his running mate, the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, were ahead even in the two home LGAs of main challenger, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressive Congress (APC)- Nembe and Brass LGAs.
The prosperity agenda of the administration had permeated every nooks and crannies of the State with good fortunes.
The massive support was strengthened by several developmental projects embarked upon by the governor in the different sectors of education, health, youth and women empowerment, peace and security as well as massive roads infrastructure in the three Senatorial Districts.
Imagine communities that hitherto were only accessible by water now have road access. Such people, whose communities are along the stretch of new Sagbama/Ekeremor road and those along the Yenagoa/Oporoma/Ukubie road, were determined to return the Prosperity Team to power. That was the fact!
It was the same story for the people of Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas in Bayelsa East Senatorial District where the government of the day had taken the bold step to commence the construction of the historic Nembe-Brass road.
This was a needed tonic to deliver Senator Diri for the second tenure in those two LGAs, home of his main opponent, Sylva. The people openly canvassed to vote for continuity of the road and they chose a good friend in Diri, over their son, who never showed any serious commitment to connect them by road.
Again, the PDP clearly avoided any form of complacency as it embarked on aggressive campaigns across the 24 constituencies and to several riverine communities.
It was an impactful electioneering campaign which afforded the Governor and his team great opportunities to appreciate development challenges in many of the riverine communities.
It was a campaign with momentum. The governor enjoyed the goodwill of his administration’s drive for a united and one Bayelsa from strong members of opposition APC, who openly canvassed support for the Prosperity Team to the detriment of their own candidate, Sylva.
What an interesting political journey seeing such personalities as former Deputy Governor, Chief Werinipre Seibarugu, Senator Nimi Barigha-Amange, Hon. Sunny Israel-Goli, Mr. Gabriel Jonah, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, and other top APC leaders declaring total support for the re-election of Gov. Diri.
It was not surprising that Diri won the gubernatorial election in a landslide victory despite the electoral malfeasance perpetrated by agents of the APC candidate, Timipre Sylva.
Most watchers and key participants in the November 11 guber election knew clearly that the election was won clean and fine by the candidates of the PDP in the 8 LGAs.
Even with the compromised election results in both Nembe and Brass LGAs, Diri won in 3 constituencies out of the six.
Interestingly, in Brass LGA, Diri won in two constituencies while Sylva managed to win in his own constituency after massive rigging, intimidation of voters and falsification of votes.
Good to note thought that the overall helection data showed that the process was transparent and fair in about 85 percent of all the polling units but heavily compromised by Sylva in about 15 percent locations covering Nembe (Opu-Nembe), Brass (Okpoama and Ewoama) and a few unit s in Southern Ijaw LGA.
APC and Sylva, from only six wards in Nembe and Brass LGAs, ridiculously amassed over 40 percent of the party’s 110,108 votes declared by INEC. That’s a clear product of manipulations.
It was curious and incredible that Sylva, who allegedly perpetrated electoral fraud, rushed to court to be declared winner in a double-faced move of an election he had dismissed for lacking integrity.
But for the umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the election was generally peaceful and recorded a few incidents in the places where the main opposition hijacked materials, colluded with certain electoral officers and wrote the results in their favour in Bassambiri and Okpoama/Ewoama communities.
But in the other Bassambiri ward, Nembe Constituency 3 comprising of Oluasiri, Mini, Ikensi communities, INEC quickly stopped the manipulation of the process as voters complained no materials were sent to the area.
The materials were held back in Bassambiri where APC thugs were mobilised to enter fake results in favour of Sylva. This was day light robbery by APC.
INEC, acting on the public outcry, announced outright cancellation after confirmation that no election took place as the BVAS recorded zero accreditation.
Nigerians, particularly Bayelsans, were stunned that Sylva approached the Tribunal with “cooked votes” never backed by BVAS accreditation, results that the electoral umpire, INEC roundly denounced.
INEC representative at the tribunal queried the source of the fake results brought to the court as they were not generated by any of the officials of INEC.
Is it not ridiculous that no INEC official came to testify or stand by those ‘voodoo’ votes from the disputed 184 polling units?
In its unanimous decision, the tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court agreed that the petitioners failed to adduce any credible evidence to substantiate any of the allegations they raised against the outcome of the Bayelsa State governorship poll.
Regrettably, there were no loopholes for Sylva to explore in his desperate move to upturn Diri’s re-election even when they
went after the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo over his certificates.
The Supreme Court endorsed the verdict of the Lower Tribunal and Court of Appeal that such an issue bothering on eligibility remains a pre-election matter and that in fact, documents before them showed that Ewhrudjakpo, was qualified to contest the election.
Truly, the entire legal action, though an unworthy cause, looked like a jamboree whereas Sylva and his party prayed the court to declare them winners of the governorship election, and in the same breath, applied for the same election to be declared null and void!
The court proceedings clearly showed that the legal action was either a product of wrong judgment or a deliberate attempt to cause a political melee to mislead the Judges.
What an unworthy legal action and serious distractions to the Governor and his team!
With the case dismissed at the three stages, it’s a fresh of breath air and a renewed energy by the Governor and his team.
After the recent Supreme Court judgment, the Governor described the ruling as the triumph of truth over falsehood and evil and that the victory was not for him or his deputy alone but also for people of the state whose choice was validated by the courts.
He praised the Judiciary for standing with the truth in this case and that the forthrightness of the justices has given him assurance that there is light at the end of the tunnel in Nigeria.
Speaking on what people of the state should expect in his second term, Governor Diri said his administration had started well and that it will consolidate on the gains so far made and even introduce new programmes and policies that will benefit the people.
He said: “From the election and the tribunal to the Supreme Court, we won four-zero. This is the triumph of truth over falsehood and evil. There is hope for democracy in Nigeria.”
The Governor, who called on every Bayelsan to join hands with his administration to move the state forward, said the ship of State is sailing well.
“We have started on a good ground and we will not disappoint our people. We will even introduce new programmes that will benefit our people”, he stated.
The elections and the needless court distractions are over, effective governance will now be at its peak in this second term of the Prosperity Administration.
Fidelis Igbogi writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa
