Ex-petroleum minister, Timipre Sylva, wins APC governorship ticket in Bayelsa
The immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has been declared winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary for Bayelsa State for November 11 governorship election in the state.
Sylva, a former governor who ruled the state between 2007 to 2012, polled a total of 52,061 votes to defeat five other aspirants, including the 2019 governorship candidate of the party, Chief David Lyon, in a direct primary of the party.
With the results, Sylva will now square up with the incumbent governor, Senator Douye Diri, who had earlier in the week emerged as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Declaring the results on Saturday at the APC state secretariat in Yenagoa, the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee for Bayelsa State, Maj. Gen. A. T. Jibrin (Rtd), said the exercise was conducted peacefully on Friday across the state.
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Jibrin said the panel acted on the mandate given to them by the national leadership of the party to conduct a free and fair primary to choose the party’s candidate for the November 11 governorship election.
He said though the difficult terrain of the state delayed the conclusion of the exercise, they were able to conduct a primary acceptable by the aspirants and stakeholders of the party.
Two aspirants, Ongoebi Etebu Maureen and Joshua Maciver, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the primary and promised to work for the victory of the party come November 11.
Jibrin announced the scores of other aspirants who contested the primaries as: Chief David Lyon, 1591 votes, Chief Festus Daumiebi, 557 votes, Ongoebi Etebu Maureen 1,277 votes, Joshua Maciver, 2,078 votes while Ogbomade Johnson had 584 votes.