The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr David Lyon, has won the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Faraday Orunmuwese, announced this on Monday morning.

Professor Orunmuwese returned Lyon as the winner of the keenly contested election after scoring the highest number of votes in the poll.

The APC candidate polled a total of 352,552 votes to defeat his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Duoye Diri, who scored 143,172 votes.

Six Of Eight

Residents of Bayelsa had taken to various polling units in their respective wards to cast their ballots in a bid to elect a new governor to succeed Mr. Seriake Dickson who is about to complete his second term as governor of the state.

Governor Dickson had supported Mr Diri to succeed him in his bid to ensure the PDP continues to rule in Bayelsa, following the exit of the state’s former governor and present Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, from office in 2012.

He was, however, unable to achieve this as Diri suffered defeat to his APC rival with a difference of over 180,000 votes.

Source: THISDAY