Bayelsa 2023: Poll Projects Diri to Win Nov 11 Governorship Election 

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

An opinion poll conducted by Precious Hands and Brains Consult, an independent research group, has projected the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Donye Diri, ahead of other candidates in the forthcoming November 11 governorship election in the state.

Precious Hands and Brains Consult, coordinated by the former Editor of Guardian Newspapers, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo, in the poll report, maintained that Governor Diri has a wide margin of lead in the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State from the research conducted.

The poll, put together by a 12-man team comprising Dr. Peter Omoko, Dr. Mike Moemeka, Goodnews Gayaovwi, Moses Peter Ukochovwera and others, which was coordinated Ogbodo, noted that Governor Diri would emerge victorious considering the opinion of the electorate in Bayelsa State.

 According to the poll result, which was anchored on participatory democracy, Diri has a wide margin of lead in all the local government areas of the state.

Precious Hands and Brains Consult noted that the reason for conducting the poll was to promote good governance and to determine the re-electability of Governor Diri for a second tenure in office.

According to the report released to journalists in Ughelli yesterday, from data collated in Brass, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa, “the eight local government areas of the state, indicated that the governor was shoulder ahead of other contenders.

“Our poll result was rather too optimistic, and we then decided to place it against concrete evidence of good governance on the ground. Figures are inadequate when dealing with humans with hopes and aspirations for their children. We needed proof to match the result of the field survey.

“This led us to the second project, Diri’s first tenure scorecard or the list of some verified projects executed by the self-styled Prosperity Administration.

“Governor Diri’s scorecard covers major road construction, reconstruction of flood-impacted roads, internal roads construction and reconstruction, especially in the state capital, Yenagoa.

“There are also recorded interventions in education, health, agriculture, security, and sports. Workers’ welfare/equity and human capacity development initiatives are on the scorecard. These have been accentuated by constituency projects executed by the 24 members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.”

The poll report stated further that: “The data analysis presented here is the integrated data collated from the eight LGAs in September 2023. The sample size for data totals 990 respondents. The number is obtained by summing up the sample sizes of the strata.

“The composition of the 990 respondents is as follows: 463 males and 527 females. In terms of age, the majority falls within the 30-39 years range which is unarguably the most active in political activities. Their marital status is married 50.1 percent; single 36.2 percent, and divorced 13.7 percent. Importantly, 82.3 percent have Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). On how they get their information on the Prosperity Administration, 56.2 percent said they relied on the radio.

“Another 44.4 percent maintained that Governor Diri could improve communication with Bayelsans through the same medium. The popularity of radio among the Bayelsa electorate and perhaps elsewhere is linked to the GSM technology. Every phone has FM enabling voters to be properly informed. Integrated Data Presentation and Analysis (poll result). We had overstepped a little into characterisation and asked the aspect of Diri that attracted them the most, 58.3 percent stated his ‘simplicity’; 20.3 percent said his accommodating nature; 12.4 percent said his accessibility, while 9 percent said his openness.”