I won Bayelsa governorship election, says PDP candidate, Douye Diri

*Urges INEC to declare him winner

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, says he is the winner of the Saturday’s governorship election.

He said this at a press briefing in Yenagoa on Monday.

Among those present at the media event were Diri’s running mate, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo; PDP’s Vice Chairman, South-South Zone, Emmanuel Ogidi; member of the state House of Assembly, Munalayefa Gibson, representing Ogbia 2; chairman of Ogbia Local Government Council and the governorship candidates of some political parties that participated in the election, among others.

Diri said he was no longer the PDP candidate but the winner of the poll.

He said that he should be “addressed properly” as the winner of the governorship poll.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had on Sunday night declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, David Lyon, as the winner of the election.

INEC’s state Returning Officer, Prof. Faraday Orumwense, who announced the final result of the poll, said Lyon polled 352, 552 votes while Diri got 143, 172 votes.

Lyon won in six local government areas of Brass, Nembe, Ogbia, Yenagoa, Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw while Diri won in Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma LGAs.

But the PDP candidate said that the figures declared by the commission did not reflect what transpired at the polling units and urged the INEC to declare him as the governor-elect.

Diri said the Situation Room of his campaign organisation monitored the voting in all the local government areas and wards of the state.

He said the Situation Room had the “real” figures of the election which represented the choice of the people, stressing that the APC did not win the election.

Diri, while announcibg the “authentic results” of the poll based on each of the eight LGAs said,”I’m not just saying that the PDP is the winner of the just-concluded election.

“You recall that yesterday (Sunday), I gave a press conference and in that press conference, I informed you that we had a Situation Room that was monitoring the exercise across all the local government areas and all the wards in the state.

“As we speak today, I have the results of that monitoring and I will give you the results from our Situation Room.”