Incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson is leading in the Bayelsa State governorship election according to results announced so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Dickson, who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won in four of the five local government areas announced on Sunday by INEC.
He has so far garnered a total of 81, 929 votes, while his closest rival and his predecessor as governor of the state, Timipre Sylva, got a total of 56, 514 votes.
Sylva is of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The margin of lead is 25, 415.
Sylva won only in Brass Local Government Area where he comes from.
He got 21,755 votes, while Mr. Dickson got 6,516 votes.
Mr. Dickson, besides winning 28, 934 votes in Sagbama where he comes from, also won big – 24, 258 – votes in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State.
Mr. Sylva got 5, 382 votes in Sagbama, and 14, 563 votes in Yenagoa.
In Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, Mr. Dickson had 7,619 votes, while Mr. Sylva had 6,896.
Timi Alaibe, a former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission and a member of APC is from the local government area.
In Ekeremor, Mr. Dickson had 14,602 votes, while Mr. Sylva got 7,918 votes.
Results were still being awaited from Nembe, Southern Ijaw, and Ogbia local government areas.
Immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan is from Ogbia.
INEC said the announcement of the remaining results would commence at 10 a.m. on Monday.
There were reports of violence across the state before and during the voting exercise.
On Saturday, INEC announced the cancellation and postponement of the poll in Southern Ijaw and about 25 units in three LGAs in Bayelsa State.
The electoral umpire hinged its decision on alleged disturbance and violence in Southern Ijaw and the wards and units affected.
It was reported that five persons were feared dead in Southern Ijaw LGA when an ex-militant led an attack on the local government headquarters but the police authorities dismissed the report.
The police had said some persons were injured, stating that nobody was killed.
Addressing a press conference in Yenagoa on Sunday, the acting Chairman of the PDP in Bayelsa State, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, alleged that there was a grand plot by the APC to rig the poll in favour of the APC candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Dokubo-Spiff claimed that the opposition APC, having realised that it had lost in seven LGAs at the various units across the state, had resorted to using ‘federal might’ to swing the pendulum of the election in its favour.
He also alleged that Sylva had gone to Abuja to consult with some senior government officials on how to perfect the rigging plot to give him an edge over Dickson.
But the Director, Media and Publicity, Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation, Chief Nathan Egba, said the reasons Dokubo-Spiff had given for the postponement of the rescheduled governorship election in Southern Ijaw LGA were baseless and lacking in substance.
He stated that it was a known fact that the PDP had perpetrated all the violence in the Saturday governorship election in the APC’s strongholds to scare away the APC teeming supporters from voting in the election.
He added, “Having not succeeded in their violent acts and intimidation of the electorate due to the increased presence of security operatives in the rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw LGA, the PDP is now crying wolf.
