With Sylva’s Appeal Court Victory, Tinubu, APC Should Storm Bayelsa For Campaign, Says Ex-Agitator

A former freedom fighter and prominent campaigner for the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pastor Reuben Wilson has hailed the decision of the court of appeal to return Chief Timipre Sylva to the ballot ahead of the November 11 election in Bayelsa State.

He therefore wants the president and the APC national leadership to quickly get into Bayelsa to campaign for the party’s candidate, even as he urged the president to compel the minister of state, petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, to mount the rostrum to also campaign for Sylva.

Expressing the suspicion that Lokpobiri was not supportive of Sylva’s election project, Wilson said in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday that “yesterday, in my open letter to Mr President, I had called for his gracious intervention as leader of our party, to make sure the APC wins next weekend in Bayelsa State.

“I will re-echo that call by urging him to summon a meeting of all gladiators and stakeholders from Bayelsa State APC, including the minister of state for petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who has not shown any form of commitment to the Sylva election project up till now.

“Instead of being committed to the project, he is seen to be hobnobbing with our opponents while also patronising and supporting those who never supported the APC in the past elections. I insist that the position Senator Lokpobiri is occupying should be taken from him and given to those who have shown capacity and total commitment to the progress of the party in Bayelsa State.

“The general suspicion is that Senator Lokpobiri and many others like him, are working at cross purposes, against the interest of the party. This cannot be allowed to continue unchecked, if the party must win the forthcoming election. There cannot be a better time for all party members to sink their differences and come out in full force to queue behind Sylva.

“With a few more weeks left before the public campaign window closes, I will want our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the national executive committee of the party to come to Yenagoa and personally campaign for the APC.”

Wilson who is also the founder of the Pastor Reuben Initiative for leadership and accountability urged Tinubu to sack Lokpobiri if the minister refused to support the APC and publicly campaign for Sylva.

He added: “This afternoon, the court of appeal sitting in Abuja made a landmark decision when it restored the right of Chief Timipre Sylva to contest the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State, setting aside an earlier court order that sacked him as the candidate of the APC.

“This is a piece of good news for all lovers of good governance. And for us in the APC, it is the tonic that we needed to forge ahead in the battle to recover our state from the hands of the PDP that has since misgoverned our dear Bayelsa State.”