Bayelsa APC Guber Pry: How Sylva Silenced the Lion in Lyon

News Analysis

OFONIME UMANAH

It would have been an awesome piece of news if the lion in David Lyon was able to roar and prevent Chief Timipre Sylva from grabbing the ticket of the APC in Bayelsa State for the November 11, 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.

Sylva is seen as the leader of the APC in the state. Many believe that he has the party structures in his back pocket and can do whatever he wishes with it. In March last year when he said he was not going to contest the governorship election but would get a credible candidate to run against the PDP, all other aspirants may have been excited.

But as soon as he changed his mind, his wish became the command of the party members who queued behind him on Friday, May 14, to choose him as their candidate.

If his emergence as candidate was not shocking to party members and Bayelsa people, Lyon’s third position must have shocked everyone. But it is what it is-politics.

So, Sylva and his APC will have Senator Douye Diri and his PDP to confront in November when Bayelsans file out in the eight local governments, to choose the next governor.

On Saturday, Sylva was declared winner of the primary, having polled 52,061, to defeat his closest rival, Great Joshua MacIver who scored 2,078 votes. According to retired Major General A.T Jubrin, the APC election committee chairman, Lyon got 1582 votes.

The other aspirants, Prof. Ongoebi Etebu, Mrs. Ikisima Ogbomade and Festus Daumiebi got 1277, 584 and 557 votes respectively.

It is believed that Sylva has been the one who installed and has been taking care of the party leaders. The burden to finance the party has been on his shoulder, according to party sources; even though it is also said that Lyon has been contributing in the task of building the party and also had the ears and heart of the party leaders in Abuja.

It is not clear how Lyon and his supporters will take the turn of events. Their expectation had been that Lyon would be considered and handed the ticket, considering what happened to him in 2019, having won the election but was denied the throne by the Supreme Court, for no fault of his.

There are signals already, that aggrieved party members may choose to remain within the party to work against the party’s interest in November. Also, it is said that the choice of Sylva’s running mate and where the candidate comes from will make or mar Sylva’s chances.

While there are speculations already, that Sylva may consider Lyon as running mate or any other person from Southern Ijaw, the local government with majority of the votes in the state, others have argued that it would be proper to pick a running mate from Yenagoa, the headquarters.

Those who argue in favour of a running mate from Southern Ijaw believe that if Sylva decides otherwise, he would fail. In 2015 when he contested and lost, his running mate was, however, from Southern Ijaw, even though the political dynamics have since changed.

Can the APC repeat the wining feat of 2019? Many have argued that this may not be possible. They believe that the APC was able to win in 2019 because those who voted against the PDP at that time were actually voting against the immediate past governor, Seriake Dickson, and not necessarily because they did not want Diri.

But others have argued that he did well during his first term, especially in the area of internal roads construction. It is also argued that as minister of state for petroleum, he must have made so much money and should be able to use same to confront the ruling government in the state.

TNN will be on top of political developments in Bayelsa State in the days ahead, till the new governor emerges in November.