Sylva Not Our Consensus Candidate For Bayelsa Polls – APC

The National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has dismissed as ‘untrue’, claims that the party leadership has adopted a former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, as a consensus candidate of the party in the state.
The governorship primary for Bayelsa was billed to take place at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, on September 19 but was postponed till September 22 but some politicians in the state claim the exercise is merely a formality as the national leadership of the APC had anointed Sylva as the party’s consensus candidate for the December 5 governorship election.
But the APC spokesman in a telephone interview on Saturday, dismissed the claim as untrue.
“As far as APC is concerned, the governorship primary will hold on Tuesday”, he said.
Also, a founding member of the APC in the state, Perekeme Kpodo, debunked the claim.
Kpodo, who spoke in an interview in Yenagoa on Saturday, described the speculation as false, saying it was an ‘evil machination’ of some people to create tension and polarise the party.
According to him “The news flying around in the state that Timipre Sylva has been adopted by the leaders of the APC is untrue and has no basis. Nobody has adopted Sylva as a consensus candidate.
“APC is a serious party that will not toe ignoble path such as adopting any aspirant. It will be a disgrace to the APC because of the following reasons: One, it is not democratic. APC is a party that stands for change. We are talking of the APC on board now and there are a lot of changes taking place in the country. It is visible for all.
“The speculation is diversionary. The party has said every aspirant should go to the primary to test their popularity and that is how it should be and that is how it is right now”.
Similarly, political associates of one of the aspirants, Timi Alaibe, have faulted the report that Sylva had emerged as a consensus candidate.
They described the report as fictitious, untrue and a deliberate attempt by the authors to cause disaffection within the APC ahead of the primaries.