Finally, it’s judgement day for Dickson and Sylva

For the third time in a little over a month, Timipre Sylva and Seriake Dickson go head-to-head in yet another tussle over the governorship of Bayelsa state. Unlike the situation with the past two contests, a winner will emerge this time – surely.

Dickson, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Sylva, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), were the front-runners when the governorship election first held on December 5, 2015, but the exercise could not hold in Southern Ijaw local government due to violence, forcing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to move it to Sunday, December 6.

Despite having a full day to conduct the exercise, the election that occurred on Sunday displeased INEC, and on Monday December 7, the commission duly cancelled the exercise in the local government, declaring the entire election inconclusive.

At that stage, incumbent Dickson had recorded a significant lead, polling 105,748 votes to Sylva’s 71,794 after announcement of results in seven of the eight local governments in the state. But with 120,827 voters registered in the pending local government, the race is all but won.

By the time Saturday’s ‘third’ election in 34 days is over, there is hardly a chance it would be declared inconclusive for a second time. There will be a judgement – either Dickson defeats Sylva again, as he did in 2012, or Sylva scores an equaliser against not only his perennial foe but against his former party.