The emergence of David Lyon as the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 Governorship Election in Bayelsa State and the complaints of the other leading aspirants have heightened fears over the chances of the leading opposition party, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu and Mike Odiegwu in Yenagoa
FOLLOWING the dramatic emergence of Chief David Lyon as the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming governorship election in Bayelsa State, some observers are curious to know how far he can lead APC to realise its plan of taking over power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This is even as it has been alleged by some analysts that his emergence has thrown up fresh issues of disagreement and possible re-alignment within and outside the main opposition party in the state.
For example, his critics within the party had alleged that Lyon rode on the back of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to defeat stronger aspirants like the immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and Prince Preye Aganaba.
Such sentiments have heightened fear over the chances of the party in the coming election even as some supporters of the other aspirants threaten possible realignments against the party during the governorship elections.
But The Nation reports that the fear over APC’s chances in the November Governorship Election dates back to the politics that defined this year’s August 10 Local Government Elections in the state. It would be recalled that APC members and concerned supporters first expressed fear when the party in the state threatened to boycott the grassroots elections, alleging manipulations and irregularities.
The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Doifie Buokoribo, had said then that “the poll was a ploy by the current administration of Governor Seriake Dickson to use the council election to plant his men, who would rig the forthcoming November 16 governorship polls in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Dickson’s dramatic decision to hold local council polls a few months to the end of his tenure indicated that the governor had a hidden agenda,” he said, adding, “APC would not waste it’s time to take part in an election that would be conducted by an electoral umpire chaired by a card-carrying member of the PDP.”
True to that threat, APC boycotted the crucial grassroots election, organised by the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission, creating an atmosphere that made the ruling party, PDP, to win all the eight local government areas in the state.
Given this reality, observers said APC would need to work harder to win the governorship election, given that PDP will not only the power of incumbency at the state level but will have the executive chairmen of all the local government councils in the state.
ANY HOPE FOR APC?
Notwithstanding the seeming incumbency advantage PDP now enjoys, The Nation learnt, during the week, that APC still has a good opportunity to win the South-south state in the forthcoming November 16 governorship election. But elders of the party and concerned supporters who spoke to us during the week said they know that dislodging PDP in Bayelsa during this year’s election is not a tea party, considering that the party has governed the state since 1999 with established structures at far-flung creeks. They however said their candidate, Chief David Lyon, an oil surveillance contractor and businessman, is well qualified to slug it out with the candidate of the PDP and Senator representing Central Senatorial District, Douye Diri.
But while the primary election that produced Diri was adjudged by most of the aspirants as keen, free and fair, apart from a former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, who complained of procedural defects, we gathered that the internal poll that threw up Lyon has become a bitter pill for other aspirants in the party to swallow.
Lyon was declared the winner of the governorship primaries by an electoral committee constituted by the party’s leadership. The results were announced by a member of the committee, Senator Emmanuel Ocheja, who identified himself as the Collation Officer. Lyon polled 42,138 votes to defeat five other aspirants. Mrs. Desiye Nsirim came a distant second with 1,533, while Chief Ebitimi Amgbare came third with 633 votes.
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri scored 571 votes to come fourth while Prof. Ongoebi Etebu and Prince Preye Aganaba got 564 and 354 votes respectively.
Senator Ocheja, who was accompanied by the other national and state officers of the party, said he stood in for the Returning Officer and Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni, saying the governor was unavoidably absent.
He pointed out that six aspirants contested the election, adding that the mode of the primaries was direct with Option A-4, ‘ adopted by the state stakeholders and leaders of the party in the state and ratified by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
Our investigation shows that most of the aspirants are not happy with the conduct of the election and the result declared. There is therefore fear that some of them may work against the party. So to brighten APC chances, observers are of the opinion that the national leadership of the party must reconcile aggrieved aspirants. Prominent among the aspirants that need to be pacified is Lokpobiri. Insiders said the former minister, believed to possess all the credentials to fly the flag of APC, felt shortchanged after the internal poll.
It is on record that Lokpobiri vehemently rejected the outcome of the primary election. He said he was still trying to get details of what transpired in Bayelsa insisting that he and his team never participated in any primaries that declared Lyon the flag bearer of the party.
The former minister said there was no way he would be defeated in any election in Bayelsa by Lyon adding that the majority members of the APC were supporting him.
He wondered why a primary was said to have started in a hotel in Yenagoa and ended in the hotel sidelining the secretariat of the party in the state.
He said party members gathered at the secretariat in Yenagoa and waited in vain for the arrival of the committee saddled with the conduct of the primaries. He also queried why a result was purportedly declared by someone other than the Returning Officer and Governor of Yobe State, who chaired the committee.
Lokpobiri expressed optimism that the national leadership of the party would look into the development in Bayelsa. The former minister said there are hundreds of thousands of APC members in the state noting that it was not possible for a direct primary to produce less than 45,000 voters as purportedly announced in Bayelsa.
Apart from Lokpobiri, Aganaba has also rejected the outcome of the primaries describing it as a mockery of the democratic process. Aganaba, who further referred to the primaries as a political hoax and lacking any semblance of credibility alleged that the results were written in a hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital.
“The process leading to the direct primary election was rife with irregularities and has set a bad precedent for a political party that prides itself as a progressive which is supposed to lead by example.
“Engr. Preye Aganaba did not partake in the September 4th APC governorship primary election because there was no election. The degrading votes allotted to him is a complete fabrication and designed to ridicule him and his supporters”, he said.
The aspirant has further gone to court to seek cancellation of the internal poll. Aganaba, a founding member of the APC in Bayelsa, dragged the APC, Lyon and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the court as defendants in a suit he personally filed on Seprember 12.
The aspirant urged the court to make a declaration that the primaries scheduled for September 4 across the 105 wards in the eight local government areas of the state did not take place. He also asked the court to make a declaration that since there were no primaries, the declaration of results that produced David Lyon as the candidate of the party was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.
The aspirant further demanded an order setting aside the results of the APC primary election, which returned Lyon as the candidate of the party for November 16 election. He further asked the court to make an order “restraining the APC from presenting Lyon or submitting his name to INEC as candidate of the APC”.
Other reliefs are: “An order restraining INEC from receiving, acting on, publishing or listing the name of Lyon as the governorship candidate of APC. An order restraining Lyon from parading himself as or holding himself out as the candidate of the APC in the forthcoming Bayelsa State Governorship election”.
Most party elders have, however, urged the angry aspirants to sheathe their swords and work for the overall interest of winning the state. A stalwart of the APC, Chief Gift Ebiki, urged the aspirants to forego their grievances. Ebiki, who spoke in Yenagoa, said in every contest a winner must emerge and called on leading aspirants to support Lyon.
Ebiki insisted that the process that led to the emergence of Lyon was free, fair, transparent and credible and appealed to persons not happy with the internal poll to put the party first ahead of their grievances by considering the overall objective of winning the state. He commended APC members in the state for electing an oil magnate and businessman, Lyon, to fly the flag of the APC in the November 16 governorship election.
He said thousands of APC members trooped out to line up behind Lyon in an orderly and peaceful manner, describing the direct primaries in Bayesa as credible and transparent. Thanking the people for their belief in the candidature of Lyon, Ebiki assured them that the APC candidate symbolised prosperity, development and job creation.
He congratulated Lyon for emerging as the preferred candidate of the APC saying he deserved the ticket having demonstrated love for the people, loyalty, commitment and strong character in business and politics. Ebiki further commended Mala Buni for conducting what he described as the fairest and most transparent primaries in the state.
He appealed to other aspirants to concede defeat, congratulate the winner and work collectively with the party to win Bayelsa in the forthcoming poll. He insisted that there was no victor and no vanquished as the victory of Lyon was the victory of all, especially the APC. Ebiki noted that Lyon was prepared for governance having demonstrated capacity in his private business and his love for Bayelsa, especially the downtrodden.
He said: “Though there is no perfect system, the primary election that threw up Chief David Lyon as the candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State met all requirements and guidelines of the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It was a direct primary. We all travelled to our wards to vote. I was in my ward too. Voting was done through Option A4 and at the end Chief David Lyon was declared the winner by the committee. It is pertinent to state that the internal affair has come and gone.
“All the aspirants should show love to the party by uniting to support the winner because our general interest is to win and bring development to Bayelsa. We need to work together to ensure that our candidate win the election in Bayelsa. No matter how genuine you think your grievances are, pursuing them now will be at the detriment of the APC and not the candidate”.
FACTORS THAT MAY FAVOUR LYON
Despite the internal wrangling in APC, Lyon appears to enjoy mass appeal in the state. He has suddenly become a household name with his popularity souring above other candidates for the election.
PDP’s choice of candidate
It was observed that the PDP’s choice of candidate has contributed to the growing popularity of Lyon. In fact, before the emergence of Diri, most PDP leaders kicked against his candidature.
They generally described him as a stingy man, whose administration could cause more hunger and starvation in the state. PDP members from Southern Ijaw, who were more vocal, opposed Diri, insisting that since the governorship was zoned to the central senatorial district, they were in a better position to produce the party’s candidate. They maintained that the slot should not go to Yenagoa in the zone because of its dry-voting pattern and Kolokuma-Opokuma, where Diri hails from in the zone because it has the least population of voters in the state.
Despite mounting opposition against Diri, Dickson settled for him and ensured his victory at the internal poll. The governor explained that Diri possessed qualities expected from the future governor of Bayelsa. He said his preferred candidate was not stingy but was only a good student of his political school on prudent management of resources.
Lyon’s supporters however said he is benefiting from the alleged unpopularity of Diri, who is seen as an appendage and stooge to Dickson. The governor, however, believed that things will change during campaign when the personalities and abilities of the two candidates would be subjects of discussion.
The politics of running mate
Another thing that may serve as an advantage for APC’s Lyon is the controversy that greeted the initial choice of the running mate to Diri. The governor and handful of political leaders had insisted that the Senator representing the Western Senatorial District, Lawrence Erwujakpor, should be the running mate to Diri.
Indeed, hell was let loose in PDP following the decision. First, Ewrujakpor hails from Dickson’s Sagbama Local Government Area. Many party leaders saw Dickson’s decision as clannish, selfish and against his earlier postulations on justice, equity and fairness. Secondly, the decision was reportedly in agreement with Dickson’s senatorial ambition. The move to make Ewrujakpor a running mate was seen as a selfish agenda of Dickson to replace him at the Senate in case the PDP wins the poll.
Most party leaders, stakeholders and groups warned the governor against the plot describing it as political suicide. They posited that it would be double jeopardy for the governor to impose a running mate on party members, who were still grappling with the reality that Diri was their candidate. The stakeholders appealed to the governor to take the running mate slot to Bayelsa East and consider giving it to Ogbia, the local government area of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Stakeholders from former Jonathan’s Eastern Senatorial District said they deserved the position for a sense of belonging in the party. The stakeholders under the auspices of Bayelsa East Forum for Justice (BEFJ) said having picked the candidate from the Bayelsa Central; it was natural to select a competent party man with requisite political clout and popularity from the East.
Speaking in Yenagoa, the Chairman, BEFJ, Monday Eribo, described the feelers that the slot for running mate had been zoned to the West as sad and an attempt to deprive the people of the East what was due them politically. Eribo insisted that the plot was motivated by greed and warned that if not rescinded, it was capable of handing over the state on a platter of gold to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “So, we are therefore condemning and rejecting it and calling on our beloved Governor Seriake Dickson not to fall for such grievous political mistake. We are also calling on party leaders at the national and state levels to wade into the matter and on time.
“We urge our flag bearer, Senator Douye Diri, to name his running mate from the East. We understand he is under pressure at the moment but he should do the right thing if we must win the election and the right thing is what he knows.
“Let us state categorically that the man they are planning to use as running mate, Senator Lawrence Ewrujakpor, is a bad market at this point in time because he hails from Sagbama Local Government Area. If Ewrujakpor is a true party man we urge him to come out now and disassociate himself from the plan to foist him on us.
“Let us remind our countryman governor that he must win the governorship election for our party first before talking about his senatorial ambition. Also, those clamouring for speakership from our zone should not forget that if we lose the election, their ambition of becoming speaker will hit the rock”.
Another factor that may aide the victory of APC and Lyon is his choice of a running mate. Observers said that APC had sealed a better deal than PDP in the choice of a running mate because APC took Lyon’s running mate slot to Nembe, a local government area in Bayelsa East. The choice is the incumbent Senator representing the district, Mr. Biobarakumo Degi-Eremienyo. Nembe and Ogbia share close affinity and following the decision of the APC, there has been a drift of PDP leaders in the zone to the APC.
In fact, following outcries of party members in PDP, Dickson decided to propose a stakeholders’ meeting to review the choice of Erwujakpor as the party’s running mate within the September 23 timeframe given by INEC for substitution of candidates. While the APC is calm on its choice of running mate, the PDP is still enmeshed in tension generated by the running mate slot.
Ex-militants’ factor
We also gathered that all the ex-militant leaders in the state are said to be disposed to Lyon’s ticket. Most of the ex-militant leaders hail from Lyon’s Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. Informed sources told The Nation that ex-militant’s reasons for closing ranks with Lyon are not far-fetched.
Lyon hails from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. He is a big time player in the oil sector. He reportedly owns six ocean liners that lift oil for multinationals including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Lyon played a crucial role in curbing illegal oil bunkering and restoring daily production quotas of oil companies in Bayelsa through his security agencies.
As a source puts it, “Lyon became popular for his generosity. Over 7000 persons are said to be in his monthly payroll and all of them receive fat cheques. Almost all the ex-militant leaders in Bayelsa are receiving huge amount of money monthly from Lyon’s company to safeguard pipelines and other oil facilities in the state. Lyon is said to have a functional scholarship scheme that recruits students from across the eight local government areas.
Since he joined politics through the camp of Dickson, he has remained loyal to the APC. He became the major financier of the party since then and he has propelled his associates into leadership positions. One of them, Preye Oseke, is currently a member of the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC.
Apart from being a successful oil magnate, nothing much is known about his public life. He was however a youth President in his community, Olugbibiri, between 1996-98, and has been involved in politics from the days of NRC and SDP. He once contested councilorship election in 1993 and chairmanship in 1997 and 2002. He also contested for membership of the House of Assembly. His major sources of strength however include his popularity, Sylva’s support and zoning.
So most of the ex-militant leaders see Lyon as one of their own. But he must defeat Diri first to become the governor of Bayelsa. Diri, no doubt has rich resume. Speaking for the Southern Ijaw caucus, the Leader of the State House of Assembly, Monday Obolo, said Diri’s candidature was the best thing that could happen to this state saying the senator was the most experienced for the job.
He said: “He has worked at different capacities. The Restoration Government has laid a solid foundation and other eminently qualified aspirants; we believe that Senator Douye Diri is a man that can consolidate on the gains of restoration.
“He is the one that can win the election for the PDP. We believe that he will not waste the resources of Bayelsa State. We believe that he will use the resources for the good of the people and he has the capacity to develop Bayelsa.
“Besides, though Diri and Lyon hail from the same senatorial district where the governorship is zoned to by gentleman’s agreement, Diri is favoured by the argument that his Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area is yet to produce a governor. Southern Ijaw produced the first Executive Governor, the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeiseigha.”
Given that both Lyon and Diri are from the same zone where everyone seems to agree that the governorship slot should be zoned to, some analysts say zoning may have taken a less important position in the election than it would have done. But PDP diehards are of the opinion that since the governorship returned to the zone, it should either go to Kolokuma-Opokuma or Yenagoa, the two councils that are yet to produce a governor. They wonder why Southern Ijaw with its large voting population has remained resolved to produce the next governor.
Dr. James Suotonye, explaining the likely outcome of November election told The Nation in a telephone chat that “the performance of PDP and APC will be determined more by the level of unity in each of the parties and how they are able to market their candidates. Everyone here in Bayelsa knows that both Lyon and Diri were sponsored by their political leaders over more experienced and acceptable aspirants. This, of course, had caused grave disaffection. As a result, nobody is looking at the so-called candidates. Everyone is looking at how the two leading parties will resolve the current disagreements. This is what counts as at today.”