…Urge Petroleum Minister to officially resign to contest
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Bayelsa state All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders have warned that the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, lacks the required potentials to confront and wrest the governorship ticket from the incumbent, Douye Diri, in the November 11 Bayelsa governorship election.
Operating under the auspices of APC Progressive Consultative Forum (PCF), the stakeholders urged the Petroleum Minister to resign his position as stipulated in the amended Electoral Act less than a month to the party primary scheduled for next month April 10.
They further argued that former member of APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, David Lyon, has the magic wand to win Diri again.
“It is however our considered opinion that for the APC to make the desired impact at the polls and win the governorship seat, the party must put forward its best and the most acceptable candidate, while also ensuring that it goes into the elections with a united force to defeat the ruling PDP and the emerging LP,” the statement from PCF signed by its Director General, Wilberforce Waribote, read.
“It is our candid opinion that Sylva, at this point, could not be considered APC’s best choice in the forthcoming governorship election. Sylvia’s political inconsistency in recent times made him unfit for the party’s ticket.
“It will be recalled that he surreptitiously indicated interest to vie for Nigeria’s presidency, but lacking the courage to resign his appointment as Minister and go for it, he buckled at the primaries. His presidential interest was not lost on the party’s power brokers and the electorate in Bayelsa who have noted his lack of guts.
“In a similar vein, his refusal to resign from his current position as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, a month before the party’s primaries as required by the Electoral Act is a legal lacuna.
“Akin to his indecisiveness at the presidential primaries, Sylva has again shown a visible lack of courage to do the needful at the right time but went on to join the power brokers to carry on a spoiler game,” they complained.
Reacting further, the stakeholders noted that; “APC’s governorship primary is scheduled to take place on April 10. All political appointees interested in the party’s primary ought to have resigned their appointments on or before March 10, 2023.
“We make bold to say that as of today, the Minister is yet to turn in his resignation letter. That was a legal requirement that must be satisfied, and refusal to act by the provision of the law would be a fatal blow to his ambition and the party’s electoral fortune in the state,” they warned.
PCF went ahead to warn the party’s national leadership that; “in light of this development, the entire leadership and members of the PCF wish to strongly warn the APC National Working Committee (NWC) not to make a grievous mistake that will affect the bright prospects of the party at regaining our 2019 mandate.
“The party should not toy with such obvious facts for floating a candidate who has such an open legal deficiency that could be exploited by opposition parties in a court of law.
“In terms of popularity, while Sylva appears to have lost favour with the electorates in Bayelsa, Lyon, has been a philanthropist and a bridge builder who has proved to be at home with the populace including the physically challenged and the fatherless. He is loved and respected by all in Bayelsa state.
“What the people of Bayelsa state need now is a practical politician like David Lyon who has indeed touched the lives of people positively including youth, women and the less privileged.
“We have it on good authority that members of the APC who decamped to other political parties are earnestly waiting for Lyon to return to the poll for them to come back to their party the APC.
“It is on record that, despite the incumbent governor, Lyon won convincingly against the ruling PDP in the 2019 governorship election. He trounced the incumbent governors Seriake and Diri.
“If David Lyon had a winning formula in 2019, it is wise and reasonable to expect him to have the same in 2023. He has even asked the party for the right of first refusal for the governorship ticket.
“As the party gears up for the April 10 primary, we strongly advise the party to conduct a hitch-free primary, with all its qualified aspirants, without those having a legal lacuna, to ensure a level playing ground for all contestants and work towards the emergence of the most credible and generally acceptable candidate at the end of the exercise,” they cautioned the APC leadership.