All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun yesterday said the party has rescheduled its Bayelsa State primary ahead of the December 5 governorship election.
Odigie-Oyegun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone in Abuja that Tuesday’s primary was cancelled because of security challenges.
He said: “The primary has been rescheduled; it had to be called off due to security challenges.”
The national chairman said APC’s leadership would choose a new date for the primary.
NAN reports that the attempt by the party to conduct the primary on Tuesday at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa was frustrated by the fracas among supporters of the 19 aspirants.
The situation led to the walkout of 14 aspirants, including Chief Timi Alaibe, from the venue, after Chairman of the Primaries Committee, Adams Oshiomhole, was reportedly whisked out of the venue to avoid being attacked.
Also, Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday said former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva allegedly scuttled Tuesday’s All Progressives Congress (APC) primary at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, the state capital, ahead of the December 5 governorship election.
The governor, who accused Sylva of threatening him and other members of the committee, challenged the former governor to produce his Certificate of Return, if he truly won in a free and fair primary.
He said: “I was appointed, along with six others, to conduct the primary election in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place on Tuesday, but somehow, thugs took over the venue. They prevented the delegates from participating and accessing the venue. So, we could not proceed with the exercise.
“The committee was virtually held hostage, including myself. The primary was supervised, unfortunately, by one of the aspirants. Sylvia said to my face and other committee members that we would not leave the venue of the conference unless we carried out the exercise without accreditation, as prescribed by the national secretariat.
“It is important to note that the national secretariat has long adopted a standard national guideline for the conduct of governorship primaries. These guidelines were used effectively in Kogi State and it produced an outcome which all the aspirants …were quite happy with.
“The key issue in these guidelines, as stated by the party, is that delegates …have to be identified either through the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), which contains the photo, name and other details or the national identity card or the international passport. This was to ensure that proper accreditation was done.
“The integrity of an election rests primarily on the integrity of the electoral process. Once the accreditation process suffers any defect, as they say, you cannot build something on nothing. Whereas all the aspirants agreed with these guidelines, it is only Sylvia who rejected it.
“He accused the national secretariat and myself of formulating the guideline in a way that would frustrate his ambition. Efforts were made to reassure him and direct his attention to the fact that the same guidelines had been used in Kogi and they are standard guidelines that will be used in future elections of the party.
“To my shock, Sylva told me that we could not leave the place unless we were ready to conduct the election without recourse to accreditation, as prescribed by the party. Of course, I was not in the position to amend the guidelines nor was I ready to submit to intimidation. It then became clear that he had mobilised his thugs and, clearly in collaboration with the police, took over the stadium, because the police simply left the gates open.
“…Sylva insisted that it was the state secretariat and not the national body that should conduct the primary and that it was wrong for the national body to conduct a primary without involving the state leadership of the party. Therefore, as far as he was concerned, we must proceed with the election without complying with the guidelines of the national secretariat.
“When it became clear that our lives were under threat, I had to call Abuja to prevail on the Joint Task Force (JTF) to provide me with security to enable me leave the venue …because thugs had blocked the gates under the instructions of Mr. Sylva.
“I have since forwarded our report to the national secretariat, namely that the primary could not be conducted because of these and several other malpractices. Several people were apprehended with fake or cloned PVCs, which they wanted to use to replace the actual delegates…”