By David Olalekan.
The immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has rejected the result of the recently concluded gubernatorial primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State.
The former minister maintained there was no way he could lose any election in Bayelsa to Lyon, stressing that he had the majority support of party members in the state.
Lokpobiri queried why the primary was held in an hotel instead of the party secretariat where party members had gathered and waited in vain for the arrival of the committee conducting the primaries.
He added that the purported result was announced by someone else instead of the Returning Officer and Governor of Yobe State, Mai-Mala Buni, who chaired the committee.
He called on the national leadership of the party to rectify the issues raised, in order to ensure a credible process which would pave the way for a popular candidate to represent the APC in the November 16 election.
Mr David Lyon was declared winner of the primary after polling 42,138 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mrs. Diseye Nsirim, who polled 1,533 votes.
According to the Chief Coalition Officer, Sen. Dangana Emmanuel, who announced the result in Yenagoa, Heineken Lokpobiri scored 571 votes while Preye Aganaba scored 354 votes.
He added that Mr Amgbare scored 633 votes while Prof. Maureen Etebu got 564 votes.
Sen. Dangana noted that the mode was direct primary as agreed by Bayelsa stakeholders and confirmed by the National Working Committee of the APC.
INSIDER learnt that David Lyon had declared interest to participate in the primary after President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly prevailed upon the newly appointed Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva to jettison his interest to contest because he (Buhari) would need Sylva beside him in Abuja to execute a new petroleum policy for the country.
Lyon, who’s mostly regarded as a quiet politician from Ologbobiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government area of Bayelsa State, is rumoured to have been one of the major sponsors of the APC in the state since 2014.