AFTER the keenly contested gubernatorial election of December 5, 2015 and the supplementary poll of January 9, 2016, the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Dickson got 134, 998 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 86,852. Moses Siasia of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) came a distant third with 1,572 votes.
In all, a total of 232, 167 votes were cast in the election out of which 6,647 were voided. Bayelsa, one of the smallest states in the country, had 654,493 registered voters and 241,114 accredited voters.
The returned governor, in his acceptance speech, thanked the people of Bayelsa for ensuring his re-election for another four years but said that there would be no celebration considering the number of people that lost their lives during the poll. He also vowed to do everything possible to bring those responsible for the killings to justice. Although about ten people were initially said to have lost their lives during the poll, the police eventually admitted only three casualties.
Dickson has extended a hand of fellowship to his political opponents but Sylva vowed to challenge the outcome at the tribunal.
We commend INEC, the security agents and all Bayelsans for the success of the supplementary poll. It is good that the people were allowed to freely exercise their voting rights. However, we decry the acrimony and violence that attended the election and call for improvement in future polls. It is quite unfortunate that some people lost their lives in the course of electing their governor.
Election should not in any way lead to violence and loss of lives if politicians and their supporters fully understand the essence of the electoral exercise. Since the election has been lost and won, the next task is how to move the state forward and ensure that all Bayelsans enjoy the dividends of democracy.
In every election, a winner and a loser must emerge. We urge the winner of the poll to show magnanimity in victory and see the whole of Bayelsa State as his constituency.
He should ensure even development of the state. We also call on the losers to cooperate with the winner and work for the general interest of the state. All politicians in Bayelsa should work in concert and give peace a chance.
We commend INEC for allowing accreditation and voting to go on simultaneously in this election, as suggested in our earlier editorial. It should stick to this arrangement and design other ways of making our voting system less cumbersome. There is urgent need to improve on the card reader. Since its adoption in our electoral system, the use of the electronic equipment has remained problematic.
We urge the losers in this election to embrace peace. They should bear in mind that there is always another election. At the same time, any candidate who feels cheated can go to the tribunal to seek redress as provided for in our electoral laws.
Above all, we urge our politicians to learn how to take victory and defeat in their strides. They should always remember that there is life after elections. Politics, it must be said, should be seen as an avenue for public service. It should never be a do-or-die affair.