A former Labour Celebration governorship candidate, Udengs Eradiri, has attributed his loss on the November 11, 2023, Bayelsa election to money strap and poor marketing campaign funding.
Eradiri mentioned he felt betrayed that his folks may gather as little as N5,000 to vote towards the dream of Bayelsa having a people-oriented authorities.
He expressed his disappointment at a city corridor organised by the Nationwide Affiliation of Nigerian College students for Youths and civil society organisations on the eve of the nationwide starvation protest in Abuja on Thursday.
Governor Douye Diri was re-elected after he was declared the winner of the governorship election.
The Peoples Democratic Celebration candidate polled 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress, who garnered 110,108 votes whereas Eradiri got here third with 905 votes.
Nevertheless, the previous LP governorship candidate rejected the end result and challenged the end result, saying it wasn’t free and truthful.
Talking on the necessity to help President Bola Tinubu’s administration regardless of the persecution it’s passing by over its financial insurance policies, the previous NANS president lamented that cash politics have taken over the electoral course of within the nation.
In keeping with him, his scandalous loss on the final ballot left him with a deep scar on how Nigeria’s politics has retrogressed in years.
He mentioned, “To win an election in Nigeria is just not simple. For me, if I can’t increase sufficient funds forward of the 2027 election, I gained’t contest once more. I’ve learnt my lesson. Cash handled me within the final election. I begged the citizens to allow us to do the proper factor. These are the identical Nigerians who mentioned they need a change.
“I went to each group to plead with them to allow us to undertake a change from the outdated means of governance as a result of these guys in authorities are going away with our cash. I even proffered options to energy, agriculture and each drawback plaguing the state. I used to be in all places speaking about it and even went to each group.
“The identical folks took N20,000, N30,000, N40,000 and as little as N5,000 to vote towards me. These are the folks I’ve been fearful about and considering of how we are able to work collectively to vary our fortune for good. Now, they’re those calling me to provide them cash. How is that attainable? So when folks say they need to clear up Nigeria’s drawback, it’s mere rhetoric.
“For the primary time in historical past, now we have a president coping with each challenge raised on social media. Allow us to give him time. Sure, I agree that he has unhealthy eggs round him. The workforce he (president) has out collectively is having points left, proper and centre. That’s as a result of a few of them didn’t include the identical mindset. That’s the reason you might be seeing all these issues we’re having.”