Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State have called on the national leadership of the party to adopt a former Governor-elect, David Lyon, as its governorship candidate.
The stakeholders’ forum in a statement by its Coordinator, Gift Ebiki, advised the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC to be careful with the conduct of its April 14th governorship primaries in Bayelsa.
Ebiki said the majority of APC members and most people in Bayelsa desire Lyon to fly the flag of the party but expressed worries that if not properly conducted the primary election could be hijacked by unpopular desperate aspirants.
He observed that most of the aspirants contesting the party’s ticket with Lyon were spent forces and moles from the Bayelsa State government.
Ebiki said following the massive electoral victory of Lyon in the last poll where he trounced the PDP but was denied his right to govern the state by the Supreme Court, APC should in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience give Lyon the offer of first refusal.
Ebiki said: “It is our firm belief that Chief David Lyon’s candidature will unarguably give the deserved victory in the forthcoming governorship election in Bayelsa State to APC.
“We call on members of the party’s National Working Committee to recall that some of the aspirants hustling for the party’s ticket have contested as the governorship candidate twice in the party yet failed woefully.
“Also, some of these aspirants are being sponsored by opposition parties to cause division, chaos and distraction in the party and should be treated with arm’s length .
“Chief David Lyon emerging as the Governor of Bayelsa State under the APC will lead to the entry and spread of the APC in the Southsouth region. Chief David Lyon is known by the citizens of Bayelsa state for his simplicity, open door policy and philanthropic nature not only in Bayelsa state but the Southsouth region even before he ran for office in 2019.”
Ebiki said Bayelsans were yearning for positive change in the state through the leadership of Lyon and were willing and ready to take back the mandate stolen from them in 2019.