Governor Seriake Dickson has emerged victorious in the Bayelsa State governorship election, beating his closest rival, Timipre Silva, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to clinch a second term in office.

Results announced by the returning officer for the Bayelsa governorship elections  Zana Akpaogu, Vice Chancellor, University of Calabar, showed that Dickson polled  134, 998 votes against Sylva’s scored 86, 852.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Moses Siasia, came third with 1, 572 votes.

Dickson was declared winner by the INEC presiding officer on Sunday night at the Yenagoa local government headquarters, which served as state collation centre for the election, more than 24 hours after the conclusion of the supplementary election in Southern Ijaw local government.

The governorship election in the state held on December 5, 2015 was marred by violence which forced the INEC to cancel the elections in Southern Ijaw and declared the election inclusive.

The supplementary poll was held in Southern Ijaw and 101 other polling units in seven local government areas.

Despite the deployment of security agents in the state for the supplementary polls, there were still reports of violence committed by supporters of the two major political parties, especially in Brass, Ekeremor, Nembe and Southern Ijaw local government areas.

Dickson blamed the opposition for instigating trouble to pave way for it to rig the exercise.

“To achieve their sinister plot, APC militants hijacked election materials and wrote results in many wards of Southern Ijaw, Brass, Ekeremor town, Brass while election was disrupted in parts of Yenagoa and in a polling unit in Otuokpoti, Ogbia Local Government,” the governor said through his spokesperson, Daniel Iworiso-Markson.

One of the key persons fingered by the PDP was Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri, who hails from Ekeremor. He was accused of leading the APC plot of rigging the election, an allegation denied by the former senator.

“Election in Ekeremor went on peacefully and the resort to this by the PDP is just a way of laying the foundation to cancel the supplementary poll so that whatever advantage it had before now will be sustained. No shooting whatsoever in Ekeremor,” the minister said through one of his aides, Preye Amba.

“Rather, it was the PDP, in concert with one Major Umar from 5 Battalion, Warri, which came to carry away electoral materials from Ekeremor to Egbema Angalabiri. We have it on record that the said major is on the pay roll of a known ex-militant leader bent on bringing down the APC in Bayelsa State,” Lokpobiri alleged.

The Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, which is a collection of several civil society organisations working to promote credible and transparent elections in Nigeria, condemned the violence and conduct of politicians during the election.

“There were reports of widespread violence in Bassambiri in Nembe LGA and in other LGAs. There were also reports of ballot-box snatching, stolen card reader, destruction of INEC results sheets, votes buying by party agents,” the group said in a statement Sunday.

“Despite clear signs of preparation for violence, key instigators were still able to move freely at the time of election,” it said, adding that there is need for adequate deployment of security agents and resources after the election to prevent any post-election troubles.

According to INEC, out of a total of 654,493 registered, 242,114 were accredited. The total number of valid votes was 225, 520 while 6, 647 votes were cancelled.

Meanwhile, Sylva has rejected the result of the election, which may see him head to the election petition tribunal.