Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri has come out to say that the successful introduction and deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System by the Independent National Electoral Commission will guarantee credible elections in the country.

He recently hailed the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the recent innovative effort is applaudable and the deployment of the device will keep ensuring the accreditation and voting process are fair and credible.

He added that he looks forward to how the election outcomes would now reflect the real wishes of the electorate.

His words, “The successful introduction of the new voter accreditation system in Saturday’s bye-election in Delta State raises a lot of hope for future credible elections. INEC’s sincerity with the electoral process would instil more confidence and bring credibility to elections in the country. I commend Prof. Yakubu and INEC for the bold steps taken to raise the bar for credible elections.”

“I urge the electoral umpire to ensure that the forthcoming elections in Anambra, Osun as well as the 2023 general election would benefit from the introduction of technology to make our elections more credible.”

WOW.

Douye Diri (born 4 June 1959) is a Nigerian politician and Governor of Bayelsa State. He was the senator representing Bayelsa Central senatorial district of Bayelsa state at the Nigerian 9th National Assembly.

Douye Diri began his early education at Okoro Primary School, Sampou and concluded it at Rev. Proctor Memorial Primary School, Kaiama in 1977, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate. He later attended Government Secondary School, Odi in Bayelsa.

Douye studied at the College of Education, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State where he obtained a National Certificate in Education (NCE) in 1985. He also attended the University of Port-Harcourt obtaining a Bachelors of Education (B.Ed) Degree in Political Science in 1990.

On 13 February 2020, the Supreme Court of Nigeria invalidated the results of the 2019 Bayelsa State gubernatorial elections on grounds that the running mate of the actual winner of the election, David Lyon, submitted fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission. The court ordered Diri to be issued a certificate of return, which would make him governor-elect.