Fresh Trouble For David Lyon
3 min read
John ODHE, Yenagoa
The unprecedented calamity that befell Chief David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year where the Supreme Court stripped him of his governorship victory a few hours to his inauguration as governor of Bayelsa state may not be the last misfortune he would be facing.
TNN authoritatively gathered that the broken-hearted former governor-elect is also at the verge of losing the only job, his surveillance contract.
We learnt on good grounds that a chieftain of the APC in the state is bent on using his influence to revoke the security contract from Lyon and give same to one of his preferred loyalists who is a serving National Assembly member.
It was further gathered that the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) who are the owners of the security surveillance contract, had already sent a letter to Lyon, informing him of the termination of his contract with the oil giant.
The multibillion naira contract helped Lyon, who was the APC candidate for the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa state to effectively prosecute the gubernatorial polls which he won, but which was later voided by the Supreme Court.
We, however, learnt that Lyon began to have problems with the leadership of the APC shortly after he was declared governor-elect in the state.
It was gathered that Lyon was not happy as all the juicy portfolios were being dictated to him by the state leadership of the party, thereby causing some internal squabbles between him and the powers that be.
According to our checks, the underground political power play created a void between Lyon and the party leadership even after the victory of the former governor-elect was upturned by the apex court.
It has also been observed that since he lost his governorship mandate to Senator Douye Diri, by the pronouncement of the court, David has not been seen in any public event organized by the All Progressives Congress.
He was equally not visible during the recent campaigns for the Bayelsa West and Central senatorial bye-elections where the APC slumped to a ruinous defeat by the ruling party in the state.
Pundits are of the view that the grand plan to financially cripple the Southern Ijaw born Agip contractor and politician may not be unconnected with his perceived disloyalty to the party’s top echelon in the state.
The plot, we further gathered, is to ensure that Lyon is rendered financially bankrupt to preclude him from independently financing any future elections in the state either for himself or any other person.
Our sources have it that since he lost his gubernatorial victory to the Peoples Democratic Party on February 13, last year, Lyon has been struggling to meet up the payments of his surveillance contract casual workers due to the alleged deduction at source the overdraft which he had collected from the oil firm’s bankers to finance his election.
It was, however, not clear whether Lyon would plead with the political authorities to give him more time to enjoy his mouth watering surveillance contract or take the Nigeria Agip Oil Ccompany to court for unlawful termination of his contract.
It could be recalled that Chief Timipre Sylva, a former governor and leader of the APC in Bayelsa state and now Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, was instrumental to the emergence of Lyon as candidate of the party for the November 16, 2019 governorship election and his subsequent victory at the polls.
