Timipre Sylva
One of the founding members of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State, Chief Richard Kpodo, has warned the party’s candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, that federal might would not make him win the upcoming governorship election in the state.
Kpodo, a former Chairman of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, said at a news conference in Yenagoa on Friday that Sylva allegedly manipulated his way to become the candidate of the APC.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to stick to his avowed promise of changing the old fraudulent ways of doing things and enthrone the desired change Nigerians yearn for in the interest of justice, fair play and better Nigeria. Kpodo, who has always claimed that Sylva’s emergence would spell doom for the APC, bemoaned the primary that ushered in the former Bayelsa State governor, saying it was a charade.
He said, “Though President Muhammadu Buhari in his Independence Day nationwide broadcast declared that Nigerians should depart from their old ways and characters, the fraud perpetrated during the charade called primary election in Bayelsa APC was the old electoral way of ‘defrauding’ the people.
“If the APC, Timipre Sylva and his cohorts in Abuja believe that the plot to deploy the federal might against the people of the state will deliver Sylva from failure, they are wrong.
“The people of the state watched with renewed interest as Sylva’s fraud was executed. And they are ready to show the APC that such fraudulent change is not needed in Bayelsa. Instead, they may continue supporting the current administration in place.
“For the Bayelsa APC to get it right, the time for the change is now. And it must start with the cancellation of the fraudulent primary conducted by Sylva and his boys.”
He alleged that Sylva and his gang of politicians, within and outside the state, forced out the popular decision of the party’s National Working Committee on the conduct of a free, fair and credible primary.
He claimed that Sylva hijacked the process from Abuja with the selection of the members of the Election Committee headed by Brig.-Gen Monsur Dan-Ali.
He alleged that Sylva arrived the state about 11pm in company with some Electoral Committee members and kept them hidden to do his bidding the following day at a venue unknown to other members and aspirants.
He said the venue used for the purported election is the campaign office of Sylva, stressing that instead of calling a meeting of all the governorship aspirants, “the Sylva’s tutored Electoral Committee went ahead and conducted the charade called primary of our party.”
Kpodo commended the three governorship aspirants that stood up and protested against the primary and applauded their decision to head for court to seek redress.
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