By-election - Protests in Bayelsa as PDP screens out former speaker, two others

Some aggrieved protesters stormed streets of Bayelsa over the incoming by-election in the state.

The PDP screening disqualified a former speaker of the state House of Assembly and two others.

The protesters accused the former governor of the state, Seriake Dickson of manipulating the process to pave way for the emergence of his loyalist.

The nomination of candidates for the National Assembly by-election in Bayelsa state has turned the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apart in the oil-rich state.

Vanguard reports that some aggrieved supporters of the party on Thursday, August 27, protested the alleged indiscriminate disqualification of the former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Monday Obolo, and two others from the National Assembly by-election race.

Legit.ng gathered that others disqualified were the former secretary to Bayelsa state government, Gideon Ekowe, and former director-general of the Bayelsa state geographical Integrated Service, (BGIS), Igo Assembly Goin.

It was gathered that the PDP screening committee reportedly disqualified the three senatorial aspirants for the aspiration of the immediate past state chairman of the PDP, Cleopas Moses.

The aggrieved party supporters, who marched on the streets of Yenagoa, accused the immediate past governor, Seriake Dickson, of alleged manipulation of the screening process to pave way for the emergence of the former chairman as a reward for loyalty.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the immediate past governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson, said the judgment of the election petition tribunal which annulled the state governorship election would not take effect until the matter gets to the Supreme Court.

It was reported that Dickson, in a statement on Monday, August 17, said Duoye Diri remains the governor of Bayelsa state until all appeal processes are exhausted.

He urged the people of Bayelsa not to be perturbed by the judgment which he described as a temporary setback.

In another report, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by Timi Alaibe challenging the candidacy of Douye Diri as governor of Bayelsa state.

A five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour dismissed Alaibe's appeal on Tuesday, July 14.

Alaibe, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa state, had previously lost the suit at the lower courts.

But the Supreme Court in its verdict ruled that the case could not be categorised as a pre-election case that a court could entertain but about an internal affair of the party which the apex court lacked jurisdiction to hear.