No one was surprised after all with the emergence of Chief Timipre Sylva as Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the November 11, 2023 gubernatorial election.
This result is a confirmation that the former governor and immediate past Minister of State Petroleum Resources has the party in his pocket as sole proprietor.
This overriding influence on the party by Sylva and poor organizational level in the party were the reasons many head eggs dumped the APC and joined the PDP.
Chief Sylva, who had earlier deceived many members including those eyeing the guber ticket that he was no longer interested in the governorship election made a U-turn to become a frontline aspirant to the seat.
Also at every given opportunity, Sylva claims Bayelsans owed him another four years in office How? Should the good people of the state in turn ask him to pay for the alleged numerous atrocities of his party, particularly in Nembe, Brass and Southern Ijaw local council areas during the 2015 and 2019 Governorship Elections.
While we are watching the drama, the party is further divided with five aspirants, including David Lyon, expressing misgiving on the process of the party primaries.
Charade of a primary election!
When on Thursday, the Former Minister, Chief Timipre Sylva arrived the Bayelsa State Airport and in company of the National Committee on the Governorship primaries of the Party led by Maj. Gen. A.T Jubrin (Rtd) all other Governorship aspirants and few party loyalists knew the election was over.
While the electoral committee tries to rescue themselves from the crisis of confidence, the walk out stages by Chief David Lyon and others from the office of the embattled chairman, Dennis Otiotio showed that Sylva’s desperation for the ticket will be allowed to stay.
The 14th April governorship primaries were done in a laughable manner with paid goons staging a primaries with bogus results, and characterised by bogus and demeaning votes awarded to their once “super star” governorship candidate, David Lyon.
In areas like Agudama Ekeptiama and Kpansia in Yenagoa, people with questionable character were deployed to enforce compliance.
The Retired Maj. Gen. A.T Jubrin-led electoral committee, had no option than to deliver the desperate and unworthy aspirant, Chief Timipre Sylva, as the flag bearer of the party.
Can Sylva be trusted anymore?
The influence of APC guber candidate in 2019, Mr. David Lyon and leader of Otita Force, Gabriel Jonah, had been greatly reduced in a controversial circumstance where Chief Sylva is being accused of crumbling their oil surveillance businesses.
Following the result of the primaries, Sylva has forced himself on the party to be in perpetual relevance in Bayelsa APC, where he is the only one to always be consulted for any action.
The 2023 election presents a different scenario as Sylva with his many baggages will face the incumbent governor who has done so well across the local government areas including Sylva’s domain.
It took Governor Diri full chest to complete key projects abandoned by Sylva in his first coming as governor.
The Nembe Unity bridge and GloryDrive are cases in point. The Nembe-Brass road which Sylva as a governor declared had no economic value was recently started by Diri.
The former governor’s baggages are following him and Bayelsans are very much aware of this.
Chief Sylva allegedly paid out about N15 billion Naira to two different contractors he approved to construct GloryDrive in Yenagoa and the Nembe-Brass road with no serious job done.
Sylva is still being expected to return this sum to the Bayelsa state government coffers.
What an unworthy APC Guber Candidate?
