TheCable

Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, says Saturday’s governorship election in the state was one of the best polls ever conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

On Monday, INEC declared Diri, who contested for the second term in office, as the winner of the governorship election.

Diri, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 175,196 votes to defeat his close challenger, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 110,108 votes.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Diri said the election could be adjudged to be free, fair, and transparent.

He said INEC faced challenges in the conduct of the election due to the geographical terrain of the state.

“The conduct of the election sincerely could be adjudged to be free, fair, and transparent,” he said.

“But it is a human effort, it could not be a perfect one. There were challenges. The terrain of our state is totally different from others.

“Be that as it may, I believe the electoral umpire has done well with all these challenges.

“I want to believe that this is one of the best elections they have ever conducted where the BVAS has been brought into full test.”

He added that those who were complaining about the delay in the announcement of the results did not understand the terrain of the state.