Bayelsa, created in 1996 in the creeks of the Niger Delta and home to Nigeria’s first oil discovery at Oloibiri, has an outsized place in the country’s political history. Its deputy governor in 1999 became President of Nigeria. It has had a governor impeached after a money-laundering arrest abroad, an election annulled and rerun, and a governor-elect disqualified by the Supreme Court a day before taking office. Since 2012 it has voted off-cycle, in November.
1999 and 2003: Alamieyeseigha and Jonathan
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a retired air force officer, won the January 1999 election for the PDP with 324,463 votes against 269,233 for Francis Doukpola of the All People’s Party. His running mate was a zoology lecturer named Goodluck Jonathan. In April 2003 the ticket was re-elected with 698,644 votes, about 94% of the total.
In September 2005 Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London on money-laundering charges. He jumped bail, returned to Bayelsa, and in December 2005 the House of Assembly impeached him. Jonathan became governor, and in 2007 he left to become Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s Vice-President, then President in 2010. Alamieyeseigha later pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Nigeria; he died in 2015.
2007 and 2008: Sylva, annulment and rerun
Timipre Sylva won the April 2007 election with 776,715 votes against 10,789 for Ebitimi Amgbare of the Action Congress. In April 2008 the Court of Appeal annulled the result, and Sylva won the rerun on 24 May 2008 with 538,204 votes to Amgbare’s 26,635.
2012: the Supreme Court ends Sylva’s tenure
In January 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that governors who had won reruns must count their four years from their first oath in 2007. Sylva had to leave office, the Speaker, Nestor Binabo, acted as governor, and the PDP refused Sylva a ticket. The party’s candidate, Henry Seriake Dickson, a lawyer and member of the House of Representatives, won on 11 February 2012 with 417,500 votes, about 89% of the total.
2015: Dickson against Sylva
Sylva, now in the APC, challenged Dickson in the election of 5 December 2015. Violence and cancellations in Southern Ijaw forced a rerun there, and INEC declared Dickson the winner in January 2016 with 134,998 votes against Sylva’s 86,852.
2019 and 2020: Lyon’s victory and the judgment
On 16 November 2019 the APC’s David Lyon won a landslide, 352,552 votes to 143,172 for the PDP’s Douye Diri, ending the PDP’s 20-year hold on the state. On 13 February 2020, the day before Lyon’s inauguration, the Supreme Court disqualified the APC ticket because his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, had submitted false information in his nomination papers. INEC declared Diri, the candidate with the next highest votes and the required spread, the winner, and he was sworn in on 14 February 2020.
2023: Diri against Sylva
Diri won a full term on 11 November 2023 with 175,196 votes against 110,108 for former governor Timipre Sylva, then the APC candidate. Sylva rejected the result, but the courts, up to the Supreme Court, upheld Diri’s victory. In November 2025 Diri left the PDP for the APC.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (PDP) | 324,463 | Francis Doukpola (APP) | 269,233 |
| 2003 | Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (PDP) | 698,644 | Millionaire Abowei (ANPP) | not published |
| 2007 | Timipre Sylva (PDP), annulled | 776,715 | Ebitimi Amgbare (AC) | 10,789 |
| 2008 rerun | Timipre Sylva (PDP) | 538,204 | Ebitimi Amgbare (AC) | 26,635 |
| 2012 | Seriake Dickson (PDP) | 417,500 | nearest rival | not published |
| 2015 | Seriake Dickson (PDP) | 134,998 | Timipre Sylva (APC) | 86,852 |
| 2019 | Douye Diri (PDP), declared after the Supreme Court disqualified the winner | 143,172 | David Lyon (APC), disqualified | 352,552 |
| 2023 | Douye Diri (PDP) | 175,196 | Timipre Sylva (APC) | 110,108 |
What comes next
Bayelsa does not vote for governor in the February 2027 general elections. Diri is term-limited, and the next governorship election is due in late 2027, alongside Kogi and Imo.
