Diri boasts of not manipulating elections
The Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, on Wednesday boasted that his administration did not manipulate the results of the just-concluded 2023 general elections in the state.
According to him, the state government did not engaged in anti-democratic activities to subvert the electoral process of Nigeria during the exercise.
Diri, who spoke at the state’s executive council meeting, which he presided over in the Government House, Yenagoa, said rather his government contributed to the growth of the country’s democracy during the national and sub-national polls.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, stated that the governor while reviewing the performance of his Peoples Democratic Party in the different elections, said neither the government nor the party interfered with the activities of opposition parties.
He further claimed that PDP candidates went to the people and spoke to them about his administration’s policies and projects that are impacting their lives.
The governor, therefore, challenged anyone analysing the results of the elections in the state to do so with facts and figures and not to speculate.
He said, “We are one state that has feathered the nest of democracy in Nigeria. Anybody who does any analysis should do proper investigation with facts and figures and not to produce write-ups that do not have any meaning to us in Bayelsa.
“We have continued to do our best to ensure that democracy is sustained in our state. We did not manipulate results as that is not our style.
“There was no time in Bayelsa during the elections that we did anything anti-democratic in the state. We allowed the opposition do their own campaigns and never did we stifle them in any way.”
While informing the cabinet members of his clearance by the PDP screening committee to contest the November 11 governorship election in the state, Diri urged them to continue to be committed to their jobs, saying that governance would go side by side with politics.
He thanked the Exco members for their dedicated and hard work, which resulted in the overwhelming victory of the party’s candidates in the last elections.
“I thank you for standing by the policies of your government and ensuring that our party was effectively delivered during the National Assembly and House of Assembly elections”, the governor said.
Our Correspondent reports that the PDP won the three senatorial districts of Bayelsa Central, East and West, as well as four of the five federal constituencies of Brass/Nembe, Ogbia, Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama/Ekeremor while the election for Southern Ijaw was declared inconclusive.
