The crisis crippling the Bayelsa State chapter of the APC has continued to fester because of the attitude of the national leadership of the party, says Chief Reuben Wilson, a former freedom fighter in the Niger Delta and south south coordinator of The Asiwaju Group, TAG.
Wilson said on Saturday, at a solidarity walk for President Bola Tinubu in Yenagoa, that the crisis in the Bayelsa chapter of the party would end the day the leaders decide to put an end to it.
Even though Wilson did not mention names, accusing fingers have always been pointed at the direction of the immediate past minister of petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva and his successor, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, for the crisis in the state chapter. The national leadership is not seen to have been able to resolve whatever must have caused the rift.
While Sylva controls a section of the party, Lokpobiri also controls another section of the party. Both of them have supporters who operate from two secretariats in the state capital.
The rally was organized by the Pastor Reuben Initiative For Leadership and Accountability, PRIFGLA, an organization that is promoted by Wilson himself. As national president, he used the group to mobilise support for the election of Tinubu in 2023.
Apart from PRIFGLA, he used his position as coordinator of TAG to mobilise votes from the south south for Tinubu during the last general elections. He had equally mobilized the people of Bayelsa towards electoral victory for the gubernatorial candidates of the party in 2018 and 2022 respectively, though victory was not secured.
At Saturday’s rally, Wilson lamented that but for the lack-lustre attitude of the party towards the restoration of peace in the state chapter, the party would have been in charge of Bayelsa affairs since 2023.
With deep pains that showed on his face as he spoke, Wilson told the state party chairman, Dennis Otiotio, who was part of the rally, to deliver his message to the national chairman of the party, that they were responsible for the fragmentation of the APC in Bayelsa and that the party must ensure that peace and unity returned.
“The Bayelsa APC has suffered a lot. The party at the centre is supreme over any other chapter. They have been settling issues in other states. Why is the Bayelsa APC case different?
“Tell the national chairman, that they should give warning to those dividing the party in this state. It is a message. I don’t care about anything anyone will say. The party at the centre is the problem of the APC in Bayelsa.
“If they say they are not the cause, then they should do the needful. Call them(the warlords)to order. Tell them that the party is supreme. Are they afraid of people? I don’t understand. Why is Bayelsa APC case different?”
Wilson looked at the state chairman face to face and told him that he would be responsible for what may befall the party in the state if he failed to deliver the message as raw as he gave it, to the national chairman.
He said even the rally would have been truncated if not for the intervention of some leaders in the state. He said it was important for Otiotio to inform the national chairman of the position of party loyalists in the state.
“We have won election twice in Bayelsa but we were denied. I was the Southern Ijaw coordinator during the election involving David Lyon and that of Chief Timipre Sylva. I know what we did. But we were denied victory.
“Today, we are second class citizens in Bayelsa. It is very wrong for the centre to look at us as if we are not part of the APC. They are looking unto one man alone and allowing people to destroy the party. Why?
“My chairman, please and please, if you don’t deliver this message, you will be held responsible.” He thanked the thousands of his supporters and members of PRIFGLA who took over the streets of Yenagoa for the solidarity walk.
During the rally that had the semblance of a carnival, parts of the state capital was shut down, as the teeming crowd, adorned in their blue attire, took over the streets, sharing fliers that captured the achievements of Tinubu in the last two years.
