Ogege Kemelayefa, the candidate of the Action People’s Party (APP) in the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election on November 11, said she was proud of the 14 votes she got in the election.
The total number of votes cast in the election was 300,072.
Kemelayefa, a 35-year-old businesswoman, was among 16 candidates in the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared incumbent Governor Douye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the election, with 175,196 votes.
Diri’s closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress, came second with 110,108 votes, while Labor Party candidate Eradiri Udengmobofa secured 905 votes to secure a third position.
APP candidate, Mrs Kemelayefa, who is second at the bottom of the INEC table, spoke to Newslodge last week about how she felt about the just concluded elections.
“I am not satisfied with the results. There were high rates of vote buying, rigging and manipulation of results. There were many things wrong with the process, but for my 14 votes, I am very proud of them.
“Do you know why? I never paid a penny for those votes, I didn’t give a penny to anyone to vote for me. These 14 people trust my vision for Bayelsa State.
“And speaking of disappointment, yes, I am very disappointed in the ruling party for impoverishing the people to the point that all the people have to do is survive. So they took that money at the polls because they have to survive. “I am disappointed with the ruling party because it does not care about the best interest of the people and because for four years there was no development, power supply, industries and good road network for the people,” he told Newslodge. .
Mrs. Kemelayefa, two days after the elections, made a facebook video where he claimed to have seen voters selling their votes for N70,000.
“I cry for Bayelsa State,” he said in the post.
The PDP spokesperson in the state, Ebiye Ogoli, refused to respond to a request for comment on allegations of vote buying against his party when contacted.
Kemelayefa said he did everything he could during the election to illustrate to voters that “they are the kingmakers” and as such “we don’t need the king to come and give us money to install them.”
‘Two industries per area’
Despite its huge oil and gas revenues, Bayelsa State remains one of the most underdeveloped states in Nigeria, something Kemelayefa said he aimed to change.
Speaking to this newspaper about her manifesto, the APP candidate said her social contract with the people of the state was summarized in an eight-point agenda that includes decentralization of development, revival of infrastructure and the construction of at least two industries in each of the eight local governments. areas of the state.
He said he had many “offers and temptations” to resign for the ruling party, but he rejected them.
