former Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Timipre Sylva, invited thugs to the Samson
Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, venue of the All Progressives Congress Primaries for
the December 5, 2015 Gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State and scuttled the exercise.
The Governor who also said Timipre Sylva threatened his life and that of other members
of the committee challenged Sylva to produce his Certificate of Return presented to him
by the Party if he truly won in a free and fair primaries.
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 of the exercise. They prevented the actual delegates from participating and
accessing the venue of the exercise. As a result, we could not proceed with the
exercise.
“The committee was virtually held hostage, including myself and this exercise was
supervised, unfortunately, by one of the aspirants and unfortunately, the former
Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylvia who said to my face and the committee that
we could not leave the venue of the conference unless we carry 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 gubernatorial primaries and these guidelines were
used effectively in Kogi State and it produced an outcome which all the aspirants in
Kogi gubernatorial elections were quite happy with.
“The key issue in these guidelines, as stated by the party, is that delegates as
contained in the list in the custody of the secretariat has to be identified either through
the Permanent Voters Card which contain the photo, I.D 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 this guideline, it is only
former Governor Timipre Sylvia who rejected this guideline.
“He accused the National Secretariat and my humble self for formulating the guideline in
a way that will frustrate his ambition. Every effort made to reassure him and to direct
his attention to the fact that the same guideline has been used in Kogi and they are
standard guidelines that will be used in all future elections of the party.
“To my shock, former Governor Sylva told me that we cannot leave the place unless we
are ready to conduct the election without recourse to accreditation as prescribed by the
party and of course, I was not in the position to amend the guideline nor was I ready to
submit to intimidation. It then became clear that he had mobilised his thugs, and the
thugs clearly in collaboration with the police took over the stadium, because the Police
simply left the gates open.
“Former Governor Sylva insisted that it is the State Secretariat and not the National body
that should conduct the primaries and that it was wrong for the National body to
conduct primaries without involving the state leadership of the party and 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 of
the primaries because thugs had effectively blocked the gates under the instructions of
Mr. Sylva.
“I have since forwarded our report to the National Secretariat namely that the primaries
could not be conducted because of these and several other malpractices. Several
people were apprehended with fake clone PVC Cards which they wanted to use to
replace the actual delegates and they were handed over to the Police and curiously, the
Police released those who were so arrested and allowed them to continue to harass
and intimidate, not only the committee but other aspirants. For me, this is most
unfortunate.
“APC as a party has shown through the way in which the Presidential Primaries was
conducted and primaries held in other states including Lagos State that the rules of our
party are meant to be obeyed and we believe in internal democracy and the only way to
service internal democracy in the party that is committed to change and is absolutely
against corruption is to ensure that there is proper accreditation and that delegates
have free and a conducive environment to exercise their rights to votes for a candidate
of their choice.
“Unfortunately, by the way Sylva conducted himself, he showed that he has no faith in
democratic process because he continued to insist that he founded APC in Bayelsa
state and therefore cannot understand why those who didn’t found the party have the
right to contest election on the platform of the party.
“We have since forwarded a report to the National Secretariat in which we suggested
that we should arrange a primary, fix another date, arrange the primary that will enable
the authentic delegates to be properly accredited in line with the guidelines of the party
that we used in Kogi State.
“We cannot as a party use one guideline in one state and amend the guideline to suit
another candidate from another state. We have confidence in the leadership of the party
that they will do what they have to do to guarantee the rights and privileges of our party
members in Bayelsa State to participate freely within the rules of the party in the
selection of the flagbearer that will contest the Governorship in Bayelsa comes
December. It is now a matter for the party to resolve.
“I was the Returning Officer in that primaries and I functioned as the Chairman of the
Election Committee. The next person is the Secretary. Neither the Secretary nor myself
announced any result and of course, it is customary that in any election conducted, the
winner of the election is issued a Certificate of Return.
“As far as I know, no such certificate was issued. So if a member of the Committee
purports to announce any result, that is his own funeral, that foes not in any way alter
the rules of the party. There is no doubt that there was no election.
“If as a Governor, Ii had to seek the intervention of the Army, and under siege, I had to
ask Sylva if I was kidnapped, and if the ransom was that I conducted a primary without
accreditation, then the basic requirement for a free and fair election, whether primary or
popular is that those participating must have free access for accreditation and for
voting. When these are lacking, you cannot make something out of nothing.
“Sylva can do anything that he has chosen to do, but that does not mean it is the due
process which the party is committed to.
“If anybody wanted to do a shady job, they will not approach people like me and others
to be part of that exercise. I cannot be used for such fraud. As someone who has
fought against electoral fraud in Edo State and one that has been preaching “one man
one vote”, anybody who knows me well cannot contemplate allowing me to be a
member, not to talk of being the Chairman of a panel that is not intended to command
confidence.
“We made it clear to all the aspirants, that as far as the party is concerned, winning
doesn’t matter, what matters is the process that produces the winner.”
Meanwhile All Progressives Congress (APC) has nullified Tuesday's rancorous governorship
primary election in Bayelsa state in which the former governor, Timipre Silva, claimed
victory.
But the party's National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun on Wednesday said that
the party’s primary in Bayelsa State which was to hold last Tuesday has been
rescheduled to a yet to be approved date.
Oyegun, who spoke in Abuja wednesday said the primary had to be rescheduled as a
result of security challenges.
``The primary has been rescheduled. It had to be called off due to security challenges.’’
Reports has it that 14 aspirants at the primary led by Timi Alaibe staged a walk-out
during the Tuesday's primary election alleging irregularities in the process.
The Chairman of the Committee for the primary, Governor of Edo state, Adams
Oshiomhole was said to have been escourted out the venue of the event,at the
Yenagoa stadium, by the JTF security operatives to avoid being lynched.
Also speaking on the outcome of the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, said the primary election did not
hold in Bayelsa.
Frank, alleged that one of the aspirants and former Governor Timipre Sylva had held a
member of the committee under duress to declare him the party’s candidate.
Frank also said that both the chairman of the committee, Governor Adam Oshiomole of
Edo state and the secretary were not part of the 'kangaroo' primary, even as they were
not present when the former governor was declared.
Speaking to journalists in a phone interview, Wednesday, the APC deputy national
publicity secretary, said the party will soon come up with a position on the primary and
choose a day when an acceptable primary election will be conducted.
"I am speaking as a concern citizen of Bayelsa that this primary is not acceptable
anywhere. In a situation where all other aspirants walkout of the venue and a particular
aspirant put a member of the primary election committee under duress to declare him
a winner, with the chairman of committee, Oshiomo and the secretary not present.
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