Sylva, ex-gov-elect, four others battle for Bayelsa APC gov ticket today

Sylva, ex-gov-elect, four others battle for Bayelsa APC gov ticket today

Former Minister of State for Petroleum and ex-governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the 2019 governor-elect of Bayelsa State, Chief David Lyon, are among six contestants cleared for the state’s governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress holding on Friday (today).

Others are Festus Daumiebi Sunday, Prof Ongoebi Etebu Maureen, Ogomade Isikima Johnson, and Joshua Maciver.

Chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee, Maj. Gen. A. T. Jibrin, disclosed this on Friday, adding that the party would adopt option A4 for the direct primary expected to hold in all 105 wards in the state.

Addressing newsmen at the state party secretariat in Yenagoa, shortly after a meeting with party stalwarts and aspirants, he said all arrangements had been concluded for a hitch-free exercise and assured party faithful of a free, transparent and peaceful primary in the state.

He said, “The committee has had series of engagements with the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Bayelsa Police Command, Department of State Security Service, DSS and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, to seek advice on how to go about the exercise peacefully according to the regulations.

“We cannot give the total figures of party members because in some of the wards, you have up to 100 people; in some it’s less. So, it is difficult because there are 105 wards. But just know that we have a register for all those that will participate. We will accredit everybody before they cast their votes.”

Chairman of the Primary Election Appeal Committee, DIG Habila Joshua, also attended the briefing.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday that although the party leaders had sympathy for David Lyon over the loss of his mandate in 2020, “you cannot use sympathy to upstage legality and due process”.