The Man, David Lyon

About 1am on Monday, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Chief David Lyon as the governor-elect, Bayelsa State. Always smiling and believed to be humble to a fault, Lyon was born into the family of Mr and Mrs Arukubu Lyon Ekpeke of Abebiri family of Eubiri compound, Olugbobiri Community in Olodiama clan of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa state, on the 20th December, 1970.
He attended Saint Gabriel’s State School Olugbobiri from 1978 to 1983, and Community Secondary School, Olugbobiri, from 1984 to 1988 before proceeding to the Rivers State College of Education, where he bagged the National Certificate of Education (NCE).
Lyon sits on the board several conglomerates, a feat attained from the rank of a foreman with Western Company Ltd. As an astute businessman with a dexterity for the management of human resources, his shrewd business acumen has kept him afloat in the complex oil and gas industry, where he renders diverse services to oil and gas multinational companies.
Aside being a successful businessman, Lyon is quite synonymous with philanthropy. To him, the act of touching lives positively comes naturally, just as swimming is to fishes, His passion for improving the living standard of those at the lowest rung of the ladder in the society, must have necessitated the wild jubilation that heralded his entry into the governorship race.
For once perhaps, Bayelsans have seen a man whose philanthropic gestures is without strings attached, as has become common practice with most politicians, who only become philanthropist on the eve on an election, in order to buy the heart of the impoverished electorates for pittance. His acts of philanthropy are not limited to providing staple food for the indigents, he has through his foundation empowered and has continued to empower many Bayelsa youths with education amongst other avenues in which he has reached out to the needy in the society.
David Lyon, without a shred of doubt is an epitome of humility. In the course of his philanthropy, he has on several occasions helped the elderly and the physically challenged carried on his head, bags of food items from the largesse he gets for the downtrodden. He demonstrates in practical terms, what servant-leadership is, and if there is any leadership quality the next governor of Bayelsa state must possess, it is that of a servant-leader, a leader who must see his position as governor as an opportunity to serve the people and not to be Lord over them.
Contrary to the insinuations in certain quarters, his foray into the political terrain is not accidental, neither is he a new entrant into the game of politics. He started his political sojourn in his community, Olugbobiri, where he emerged as the youth president. He was also appointed as the caretaker chairman of Apoi/Olodiama development centre, as well as a former Ward 4 chairman in Southern Ijaw, under the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC. He has over time built an enduring political relationship with progressives, which culminated in his emergence as candidate of the APC.