The Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipreye Sylva has `thanked’ Gov. Seriake Dickson of
Bayelsa for making it much easier for the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon, to win the Nov. 16 election.
He disclosed this after
presenting the Bayelsa Governor-elect, David Lyon, to President Muhammadu
Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
Sylva attributed the electoral
victory of the APC candidate to what he described as “poor performance by the
Bayelsa State government”.
“It’s been a very hectic week but
I will like to bring in this Eritrean proverb, that if you marry a wife very
well, you will be blessed with another wife.
“Gov. Dickson, unfortunately made
our job very easy because he married the wife very badly. Of course this
proverb pre-supposes that if you marry a wife badly, you will not get another
wife.
“So he did not marry the state
very well, so the state roundly rejected him.
“Like it’s been said earlier, we
had a good candidate and when you have a good product it’s very easy to sell
it. So, we went round and sold this good to Bayelsans and the result was an
overwhelming success.
“We are happy with this victory
because for us it is very significant. This gives our party a footprint in the
Niger Delta, which is very key to us. It gives us more of a national outlook,
we have always been a national party but this gives us even a bigger national
outlook.’’
Gov. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of
Kebbi, who alongside his Jigawa counterpart Badaru Abubakar, presented Lyon to
the president, commended Buhari for his consistent preaching of fair and
transparent elections in the country.
“Many people worked hard in
making this happen, most importantly, Mr President, who has always shown the
party that win or lose, we should aim for free, transparent and fair elections.
“Because, that is what will
guarantee peace, confer legitimacy and support for elected persons to proudly
execute the mandate that they are given. And in Bayelsa we have seen a
demonstration of that.
“Everyone is talking about how
free, transparent and fair the elections were.
Abubakar, who is the chairman of
All Progressives Congress Governors’ Forum, said the APC victory in Bayelsa was
well received by almost all citizens of the state.
“We were in Bayelsa for over 72
hours. We didn’t see a tyre burning, we didn’t see people running, we didn’t
hear a gunshot, everyone was celebrating in all the areas we passed, which
shows the acceptance of our candidate, our party and the process itself.
“It is equally noteworthy that
Bayelsa is a home of a former president of Nigeria and this election won by a
party different from the one he belongs, has been accepted by all including
people around him.
“And so far, from what we hear,
he is also happy with the outcome irrespective of the difference in the party,
which is an indication of the transparency of the process.’’
The National Chairman of the APC,
Comrade Adams Oshiohmole, who also spoke at the event, said apart from
presenting the Gov-elect to the president, he also thanked him for insisting
that the elections must be conducted in a peaceful and transparent atmosphere.
“As the President and our father,
he has a brand new baby boy who will be sworn- in on Valentine Day February 14,
2020, as governor of Bayelsa State.
“We thanked the president for his
fatherly role and he insisted that we must ensure that while we are determined
to win the election, that we must play by the rule and ensure that the process
is transparent.
“Above all the president has
always been concerned about peaceful election and we were proud to inform him
that besides very isolated cases of ballot box snatching, the election in
Bayelsa can be described as the most peaceful.
“I believe since 1999, you as
very seasoned journalists who have covered elections in Bayelsa in the past,
you will agree that this is the only time we can say the election is truly
transparent and peaceful.
“Again, our candidate attracted
support across the political divide when you see territories and communities
where his victory was being celebrated you will agree that not only did he have
the support of the APC family, he had support beyond the APC family,’’ he
added.
The Independent National
Electoral Commission on Monday declared Lyon as the winner of the governorship
election in Bayelsa after polling 352,552 votes.
Lyon defeated his closest rival,
Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party, who scored 143,172 votes.
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