As the Bayelsa State governorship election, scheduled for November 11, 2023, gets closer, panic has hit the camp of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, as his support base is being depleted daily with supporters ditching him for the camp of the incumbent, Senator Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
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The scenario has also been compounded by the reluctance of the national leadership of the party to support his campaign financially.
Only recently, the closest political ally of Sylva, who is also an immediate past member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Israel Sunny Goli, dumped him for the PDP over what was described as irreconcilable differences.
Also, a few days ago, the platform of former legislators from 1999 till date declared their support for Governor Diri with the motion of vote of confidence on Diri moved by a former Sylva’s ally, Hon. Robert Enogha, and seconded by Rt Hon Werinipre Seibarugu, former Acting Governor and also a deputy governor to Sylva.
A close associate of Sylva, who spoke to our reporter in confidence, while taking stock of the political climate in the state ahead of the election, said, “If care is not taken, the way Sylva is going about it, he and his supporters may be plunged into political oblivion and ultimately be retired from the Bayelsa political space, because the events of the past are hunting him and his followers.
The source recalled how Sylva led a team of his supporters to meet the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, to raise N11 billion to support his campaign.
Also, he tried unsuccessfully to drag the Presidency into his campaign, trying to enlist the support of the Chief of Staff to the President, Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila.
The question on the lips of the vast majority of Bayelsans is, Is there any interest the former Minister of State for petroleum has other than coming to sell the state just as he was accused of revoking the state most most-priced asset, the Atala Oil Field OML 46 which is the common patrimony of the land of his birth OML 46 recall is the marginal oil field allocated to Bayelsa State during the resource control agitations.
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