The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon, as governor-elect of Bayelsa State.

The Returning Officer of the election, Professor Faraday Orunmuwese, made the declaration on Monday morning.

Orunmuwese, who is also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, returned Lyon as the winner of the keenly contested election after scoring the highest number of votes in the election.

“That David Lyon of the APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared winner and returned elected,” he said.

Lyon polled a total of 352,552 votes to defeat his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Duoye Diri, who scored 143,172 votes.

Okay.ng had reported earlier that the APC candidate won six out of eight locals government areas in the state.