At least 12 people lost their lives while another 93 were injured during the violence that marred the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa State according to Governor Seriake Dickson.
Dickson whose Peoples Democratic (PDP) candidate, Senator Douye Diri lost lot his opponent from the All Progressives Congress (APC) David Lyon insisted that “what happened in Bayelsa State on November 16 was a civilian coup and not an election.
Addressing journalists in the Bayelsa Governor’s Lodge in Abuja on Monday, the outgoing governor said his party was already challenging the outcome of the election in the tribunal as, among other things, the APC did not have any candidate for the election according to a competent court of law.
He noted that 93 persons who were injured in Nembe during a political rally three days to the election were still receiving treatments.
He also alleged that of the 12 persons that lost their lives, at least 10 of them were beheaded, disembowelled and thrown inside rivers so that their bodies would not float.
“They were attacked by hoodlums in Nembe who claimed that the local government was an APC stronghold and therefore, PDP should not be there to organize political rallies.”
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Dickson said that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ought to have disallowed APC from fielding any candidate for the election as a high court had already disqualified both the governorship candidate and his running mate at different occasions.
He also accused INEC and the Nigerian Army of conspiring to manipulate the elections and that figures were awarded even before the elections.
“Results sheets were in the hands of our opponents who wrote any figures that wanted. Right now, INEC is busy working back to justify the figures they announced following the elections.
He narrated some of his achievements in office in the almost eight years that he has governed the state saying that he established two universities and gave free boarding house secondary education to thousands of Bayelsans.
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