Crisis hits Bayelsa APC over choice of Sylva’s running mate

A fresh crisis is tearing apart the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State as the choice of who becomes the running mate to the governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, is causing unease among party leaders and the campaign structure.
Sylva had earlier promised in his address after emerging as the candidate to name his running mate by last Saturday.
Due to intrigue, this promise never materialised.
The matter has become so worrisome that if care is not taken, it could lead to a mass defection of members, ahead of the December 5 governorship election.
“It is now a fight to the finish,” said a source.
It was learned that the trouble with the choice of running mate was caused by Sylva himself who, it was said, had promised too many political associates the position to elicit their support to clinch the ticket during the primary election.
Having got the ticket, however, redeeming his promise became a problem.
No fewer than six persons were said to have got Sylva’s nod to become his running mate and who are all jostling for the slot now.
This is why it has been a herculean task for Sylva and the party leadership to wade through since the primary was concluded.
The source informed that among the lot, two names who are now “major political headaches” in the cat and mouse game of selecting a deputy, namely the APC state Chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe and PDP defector, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, are somewhat implacable about the development and spoiling for war.
Sylva was said to have earlier settled for the party chairman but was dropped because of what was regarded as “pressure from Sylva’s inner circle”, warning that Oruminighe had become “too powerful”.
The fear is that if he becomes the running mate and APC wins the election, he could plot against Sylva, get him impeached and become the governor.
Orominghe is believed to be the brain behind Sylva’s emergence, using his position as state chairman to ensure the delegates voted for him at the primary.
He was also said to be Sylva’s political godson, having served under him as Chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government. It was also gathered that Oruminighe played “strategic roles” in the controversial human rights record of Sylva as governor by virtue of his leadership of a dreaded cult group.
On his part, Lokpobiri, who defected from the PDP and aspired to be governor but now the Director-General of Sylva’s Campaign Organisation, was said to be keen to become the running mate but may have missed out due to similar reason against the party chairman.
Lokpobiri, the source said, would have been a good choice but Sylva and his ‘inner circle” were not comfortable with him because in their estimation, he could be “too independent-minded”.
As things stand in the party, the choice of who eventually becomes the deputy governorship candidate remains a jigsaw puzzle which at the end may leave the party thoroughly fragmented.
“You know politics is all about interest. Sylva played a fast one on these close associates and things may never be the same again. Mass defection may be inevitable,” the source stated.
Four other persons, who were initially promised the slot but now dropped, are also said to be considering their next moves since they were said to have felt betrayed by Sylva.
They were said to have claimed that the former governor “no longer has a mind of his own” as some elements around him now dictate who gets what and how.
It was, however, gathered from a close source to the candidate that Sylva and his core loyalists are now considering “one of their own”, a former commissioner who played active roles in policy formulation during his first term as governor to be anointed for the running mate slot.