A former Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson and another Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Michael Ogbere, were yesterday returned winners of the Southern Ijaw Constituency four and Ekeremor constituency three rerun elections respectively.
Benson, who was previously sacked by the Court of Appeal, polled 10,033 votes to beat the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) who got 2, 595 votes and that of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) who scored 2,467 votes.
While declaring the Southern Ijaw Constituency four result, the Returning Officer, Dr. Bertola Perekeme, said Benson satisfied all the requirements to be declared winner and returned elected.
In Ekeremor Constituency three, the Returning Officer, Dr. Johnson Dagana, said that Mr. Michael Ogbere of the PDP won with 4,246 votes to defeat the DPP candidate, who polled 74 votes.
Ogbere also defeated the candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Victor Perezi, who went to court to annul the former election.
However, Perezi, who won the election in 2011 and who had been shuttling between PPA and PDP only scored 45 votes in the rerun poll.
An elated Benson told newsmen that the nullification of his earlier election was regrettable and unnecessary, noting that his dominance in the politics of the area had just been reaffirmed by the electoral body.
“What really beat my imagination was the fact that a court of that magnitude, Court of Appeal could have two different judgment; one nullifying my election and the other dismissing the petition which led to our going back for elections and by the grace of God, we have won as expected and am happy we are back on stage”.
Benson insisted that he was a force to reckon with in the constituency judging from the landslide victory recorded once again in the rerun to serve his fourth term.
He was however cautious as to whether he was going back to assume the Speakership of the State House of Assembly, a position he held before he was sacked by the courts.
“It is not in my place to decide which office I should hold”, the politician said.
