By Adamu Abuh, Abuja
Ahead of the Bayelsa State governorship poll, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon has joined the race for the exalted seat in the state.
Yesterday, hundreds of his supporters led by Mr. Marlin Danier, stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to pick the N50 million worth expression of interest and nomination forms on his behalf.
Yesterday, hundreds of his supporters led by Mr. Marlin Danier, stormed the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to pick the N50 million worth expression of interest and nomination forms on his behalf.
Danier, who was the Bayelsa State Secretary of the APC, fielded questions from reporters maintained that Lyon remains the only person that could win the governorship election for APC in the state.
He called on the Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee (NWC) to ensure a level playing ground for all party chieftains angling for the governorship seat on the ticket of the party in the state.
He said: “Lyon is a young man that gallantly fought a very colossus governor and won him, unfortunately, the arms of the law were twisted against him and he was denied the opportunity of being the governor of Bayelsa State to save that state.
“Today, we are back here to get the form for him to go back and contest this election. Ordinarily, and under normal circumstances, he was supposed to be given the right of first refusal by the party. Sales of forms are not supposed to be made open.
“I’m taking this message to the national executive and whoever is concerned, that if they want APC to produce the next state’s governor, there is no doubt that it is picking Lyon as a candidate for the party.
“Lyon has been tested, tried and trusted. As I talk to you, every day, the PDP-led administration is inviting pastors and Imams from different quarters to pray that Lyon won’t become the candidate for APC. He is their nightmare. They are comfortable with every other person, but with him, they know they are off. That has been their prayer.
“I can confidently and categorically tell the world that if Lyon is given the ticket today, to represent the party, more than half of the membership of PDP would come back to the APC.
“If anybody thinks I’m lying, let them go and ask PDP members in Bayelsa, not even APC members. The PDP members would tell them that all of them would come and work for him, if Lyon comes back as the candidate of APC. That is the true position of things in Bayelsa today.
“I want to plead with the national secretary, we need a level playing ground so that we would overcome the temptation of going to court. We want to win elections and Lyon is the only candidate that can win the election for us.”
A former member, House of Representatives, Dr. Stella Dorgu, assured that Lyon would reclaim his mandate this time, saying, “This will be the second time in four years that we made this trip to pick up the form. But unfortunately, victory was snatched from us just at the nick of time. And part of the reason was that Lyon, being true to his name, Lion, dared the Lion in its den.
“We are here to assure Bayelsans that we are ready this time. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We have put plans in place and everybody knows that Lyon is the best governor that Bayelsans can muster to do the job.
“We will go from door to door, woman to woman, man to man, plain to plain as we used to say back home. And we know that victory is ours because it is a foregone conclusion that Lyon is the next governor of Bayelsa State. He is the one we know that would bring the trajectory of development to where every Bayelsans wants it to be.”
Source: The Guardian