UNTIL last Tuesday when the leadership of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Bayelsa State headed by Jothan Amos allegedly attempted to foist direct primaries on stakeholders, who met in Yenagoa to decide the mode of primary for the selection of the party’s flag bearer for the November 16 governorship election in the state, the party has had a reputation for being calm and closely knitted.
The meeting, which ordinarily should have further engendered and bound the ‘broom’ and the trio of Chief Timipre Sylva, a former governor of the state and acclaimed leader of the party in the state; Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture; and Engr. Preye Aganaba, a founding member of the party in the state, has kicked up a storm that if not amicably resolved could work against the interest of the party at the poll.
Threat to party cohesion
The trio of Sylva, Lokpobiri and Aganaba are nursing the ambition of clinching the APC ticket. While Lokpobiri and Aganaba have publicly declared interest to occupy the coveted Creek Haven with the former going ahead to pick the expression of interest and nomination forms to underscore his seriousness, Sylva, on the other hand, has not openly declared his intention to contest the race. It is not clear if he is still interested in the race having been nominated for ministerial appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Astonishingly, the meeting which had in attendance critical stakeholders of the party including various camps of governorship aspirants ended in stalemate with some members of the state working committee, SWC, accusing the chairman of the party of acting a script.
Sylva, Lokpobiri and Aganaba, the leading governorship aspirants were at the meeting with their supporters. Also in attendance were state House of Assembly and National Assembly lawmakers elected on the platform of the party. It was learned that no sooner had Amos introduced the meeting with remarks that the stakeholders should adopt a direct primary than some of his executive members descended on him.
They were said to have pointedly told Amos that his approach was wrong and not in tandem with the constitution of the party, insisting that before the stakeholders’ meeting, the SWC ought to have met to decide on the agenda.
Notwithstanding the impasse, some of Sylva’s loyalists claimed that the stakeholders harmonized and adopted direct primary.
The camps of Lokpobiri and Aganaba, however, insisted that since the meeting ended in a deadlock, the mode of primary was never discussed by the stakeholders.
The Director-General, Heineken Lokpobiri Campaign Organisation, Warman Ogoriba, who spoke after the meeting, said mode of primary was not discussed.
“The meeting ended in a stalemate. The party chairman ought to have met with the state working committee members to agree on the meeting and the agenda before coming to hold the stakeholders’ meeting. But the chairman failed to do so and our constitution provides for that.
“A number of the working committee members opposed the meeting and when he came up with the issue of mode of primaries, it didn’t go down well with most of the stakeholders and that is the reason the meeting ended in a stalemate. No decision was taken because majority of the stakeholders felt that the chairman’s approach was wrong.”
Also Engr. Preye Aganaba, camp said: “The chairman of the party did not handle the matter well. The State Working Committee of the party should have drawn up an agenda and bring it to the stakeholders meeting for adoption and discussion. This process was not followed. And the meeting was technically unconstitutional according to the APC constitution.”
Frontline aspirants
Though Sylva, who is seen as leader of the party in the state is yet to indicate interest in the contest. Though he has been nominated for a ministerial appointment, his avowed loyalists have not hidden their determination to persuade their principal to throw his hat into the ring convinced that he has all it takes to beat the ruling PDP at the polls.
Notwithstanding Sylva’s seeming control of the party structure, Lokpobiri and Aganaba have left no one in doubt of their seriousness to clinch the party’s ticket. The former minister has since picked the party expression of interest and nomination forms after inaugurating his campaign office at the strategic Opolo suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
Supporters of Lokpobiri, the pioneer Speaker of the state House of Assembly and two-time senator see him as experienced and not having any baggage that might scuttle the party’s chances at the November 16 poll.
The Ekeremor-born politician also enjoys grassroots support to give the PDP a scare and dislodge the later from office.
To underscore his seriousness, Lokpbobiri was the first among the APC aspirants to hit the ground running when he appointed a former two-time member of the House of Representatives, Hon Warman Ogoriba, the director-general of his campaign to steer the process of making him the APC flag bearer.
No documented agreement on zoning
His entrance into the race has whittled down the claim of zoning in the predominantly riverine state. Lokpobiri is from the same Bayelsa West zone as Governor Seriake Dickson. The Director General of his Campaign outfit, Ogoriba, also dismissed those faulting Lokpobiri’s aspiration because he hails from Ekeremor stressing that there was no time Bayelsa stakeholders sat down to adopt a rotational method for the governorship.
Besides, the director-general said all the senatorial districts have got their fair share of the governorship position, adding that it could be the turn of any local government area that had yet to occupy the office irrespective of its senatorial district.
He said: “Many people talk about zoning and I laugh most times because I have been around the political scene for a while, precisely from 1989, 1999 till today and I can tell you with all amount of seriousness that there is no day that Bayelsa politicians sat somewhere and agreed that we were going to zone.
“Late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha won in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. So, the governorship started from the central. Alamieyeseigha left and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan came in from East and he handed over to another man from the East, Chief Timipre Sylvia.
“Timipre Sylvia was removed and then Dickson came from the West. If you look at it, all the three senatorial districts have taken their turn. It is not written anywhere that once they take their turn it must come back to Central or East.
“Anybody can contest and mind you at every point in time, other people from other senatorial districts were also contesting, so nobody sat somewhere and said zoning is sacrosanct. My take is, let the best person win and I believe that my candidate, Senator Heneiken Lokpobiri has what it takes to give Bayelsa development, growth and every other thing that Bayelsa deserves.”
In like manner, Aganaba has remained a consistent aspirant and recently Bayelsa women under the auspices of Grassroots Leadership Forum, GLF, held a prayer session for his emergence as the candidate of the APC. The women said after analysing the political environment, they found out that Aganaba, who is a founding member of the APC, has the passion and capacity to change the narrative of the state for good.
Mrs. Victoria E. James, leader of the group, said though GLF is a non-governmental organisation, its members embarked on non-stop prayer sessions, following their desire to have a better Bayelsa. She explained that the ambition of Aganaba, who hails from Odi in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, was not ordinary but borne out of his selfless interest to develop the people and the state.
She described the GLF as an organisation with over 3000 members across the eight local government areas of the state.
Another leader of the group, Mrs Elizabeth Amakiri, said Aganaba proved to be a leader with a heart of gold following his track records of achievements and uprightness.
However, a member of the party, Tarieowei John, said the controversy triggered by the mode of primary to adopt was a temporary setback which the national leadership would rectify as the party cannot afford to erode its unity ahead of the governorship election.
Source: VANGUARD
