Buhari congratulates Lyon, APC for Bayelsa victory
The All Progressives Congress(APC) candidate in Saturday’s governorship elections in Bayelsa State, Chief David Lyon, has been declared winner of the polls.
Lyon won in six of the state’s eight local government areas to beat his closest rival, Senator Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Diri won in two of the eight local governments.
APC’s victory marks the first time the PDP would lose a governorship election in the state since the nation returned to democracy in 1999.
The Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Faraday Orumwensein the early hours of Monday announced that Lyon polled 352,552 votes to defeat Diri, who polled 143,172 votes.
Lyon was declared winner in six out of the eight local governments announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission at the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Media Centre in the state commission’s headquarters in Yenagoa, the state capital.
Among the six local government areas won by the APC are Brass, Nembe, Ogbia, Southern Ijaw, Ekeremor and Yenagoa while the PDP won in the Sagbama and Kolokuma/Opokuma local government areas.
In the Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa East Senatorial District, the APC polled 7, 831 votes while the PDP scored 60,339 votes.
The result from Nembe LGA, Bayelsa East showed that the APC garnered 83,041 votes while the PDP polled 874 votes.
In the Kolouma/Opokuma LGA, Bayelsa Central, the APC scored 8,934 votes while the PDP scored 15,360 votes. In the Brass LGA, Bayelsa East, the APC got 23,831 votes while the PDP polled 10,410 votes.
The APC scored 24,607 votes in Yenagoa LGA in Bayelsa Central, while the PDP got 19,184 votes.
In the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Ogbia LGA, Bayelsa East, the APC defeated the PDP candidate by garnering 58,016 votes while Diri polled 13,763 votes.
In Southern Ijaw Local Government, the APC candidate polled 124,803 votes while his rival got 4,898 votes.
Lyon also defeated Diri in Ekeremor LGA by polling 21,489 to the PDP’s candidate’s 18,344 votes.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate David Lyon for emerging victorious in the Bayelsa state governorship election.
The Nigerian president in a message on Monday, November 18, through his media aide, Femi Adesina, described Lyon’s victory as impressive.
He commended APC and Nigerians for exercising their civic rights in a peaceful manner despite pockets of unrest recorded in some locations.
The president however condemned the loss of lives in Bayelsa, particularly prior to the election, the President commiserates with the families of the victims.
“Violence during elections vitiates our commitment to demonstrate to the world and upcoming generation that we are a people capable of electing leaders in a peaceful and orderly manner,” he noted.
