By Ishaya Ibrahim
The battle for the soul of Bayelsa is a straight forward one. Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contend with.
Diri, is the incumbent who became governor by judicial intervention four years ago.
Recall that in 2019, the Supreme Court nullified the victory of the actual winner of the poll, David Lyon of the APC. This is because Lyon’s deputy submitted forged credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The lot then fell on Diri who came second during the main poll.
Diri is now faced with the task of winning the poll in his own right. He is up against a tested political veteran. Can he do it?
Sylva
Sylva is a veteran politician who has proven himself in the political fray.
In 2007, he became governor of Bayelsa State on the platform of the PDP, succeeding Goodluck Jonathan who later moved up the political ladder to become Vice President and later President of Nigeria.
Within one year of Sylva’s governorship cruise, an Appeal Court torpedoed it. His then political opponent, Ebitimi Amgbare of the Action Congress, challenged his victory, and the court agreed that Sylva’s victory had a question mark. A rerun was ordered. The two men squared against each other again and Sylva gave him a thorough beating at the poll. Sylva won more than 95 per cent of the total votes cast.
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In next election circle, which held in 2012, Sylva was denied a return ticket in what appears to be a political witch-hunt. Perhaps, because of an alleged role he played in opposing then Vice President Jonathan from becoming Acting President when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was ill.
In the formation of APC in 2013, Sylva joined the party and became its leader in Bayelsa.
In the 2023 election, Sylva also fought his way through to emerge on the ballot. A High Court had earlier knocked him out of the race on ground that he took oath of office twice. Recall that he took oath of office on May 29, 2007 and sometime in 2008 after the rerun election. But an Appeal Court set aside the ruling of the lower court and ordered INEC to restore Sylva’s name on the ballot, just less than a week to the vote.
Diri
Diri is a coming into the election with the advantage of being the incumbent. He controls war chest from oil revenues flowing into Bayelsa.
A former senator who represented Bayelsa Central, Diri may also be benefiting from the internal crisis rocking the APC in Bayelsa.
Reports indicated that a former member of the Ninth National Assembly, Israel Sunny-Goli, who represented Nembe-Brass Federal Constituency, is the arrowhead of the anti-Sylva elements.
Other political actors that have been linked to the current crisis in the party include the incumbent lawmaker representing Nembe Constituency II at the state House of Assembly, Edward Irigha-Brigidi; three former governorship aspirants namely, David Lyon, Mrs Ogbomade Johnson and Festus Daumiebi who slugged it out with Sylva for the party’s ticket in the April 14 and 15 primary election; and a former commissioner for environment, Robert Enogha.
Although there are claims that the APC in Bayelsa is closing ranks to deliver for the party, not all of the aggrieved members may come onboard, and that could spell doom or Sylva.
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