Douye Diri, the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in November’s governorship election in Bayelsa state, has asked members of the party who left the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC), to return. He stated this while speaking to reporters, in reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling, which sacked David Lyon as the governor-elect.
Diri is now expected to be sworn in as the Governor of Bayelsa. “The members of PDP, who out of one thing or the other got angry and left us to APC, I’m waving the olive branch, please, come back,” he said. “We have to build Bayelsa state together. I’m also calling on my brothers in APC they are Bayelsans, we cannot continue to be in disunity. “Being in APC does not remove you as my brother of Bayelsa state. Whether you are Nembe, Okpia, Sabama, or Southern Ijaw, that is the region that God has brought us together and so, I am extending my olive branch even to those of my brothers and sisters in APC,” he said.
Lyon won the elections by polling 352,552 votes, while Diri got 143,172. However, the PDP and Diri had sought the disqualification of Lyon’s running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, for allegedly falsifying his results.
A panel of judges led by Mary Odili on Thursday, voided the joint ticket of Lyon and Degi-Eremienyo and set aside their participation in the governorship election. The apex court also ordered that INEC should issue a certificate of return to the candidate with the second-highest number of votes in the election.
