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Chief Timipre Sylva

Bayelsa: 8 days to change of guards, stakeholders relocate to Abuja

Chief Timipre Sylva
David Lyon, Governor-Elect of Bayelsa

With about eight days to the swearing in of Chief David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the Governor of Bayelsa State, stakeholders from the oil and gas rich state have relocated to Abuja.

Lyondefeated the candidate of the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Diri Duoye, in the governorship election which has left the incumbent governor, Henry Seriake Dickson and his supporters devastated.

The undisputed leader of the APC in Bayelsa state and godfather of the governor-elect, Chief Timipre Sylva is strategically positioned as Minister of State, Petroleum and almost all of the horse-trading concerning who will get what position in the incoming state executive council of Bayelsa is taking place around him.

He ran former Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri out of the race for the APC governorship ticket and then, almost single-handedly thrashed Governor Dickson with his incumbency factor with the backing of the federal might.

Sylva, a former governor of the state, literally installed Lyon as governor of the state and presently calls the shots from his office in Abuja and residences in Abuja, the nation’s capital and Yenagoa, capital of the state, as far as the politics of Bayelsa is concerned.

Top APC leaders from the state, traditional rulers and other stakeholders, including some PDP chiefs and erstwhile supporters of Senator Lokpobiri, have since the victory of the APC in the governorship polls, been milling around him, hoping to get their names or those of their wards on to the list of Commissioners, Special Advisers and Special Assistants.

Many are also hoping to be named members of Boards and Parastatals in the state. The appointments are expected to start rolling out anytime soon and many know that once Sylva gives his assent to any appointment, it is as good as announced.

It is expected, however, that those that played prominent roles in the election campaigns would feature in strategic positions in the incoming state EXCO.

An insider also hinted that some PDP chiefs and erstwhile loyalists of Lokpobiri who are ready to shift their loyalty to the Sylva/Lyons camp would be accommodated to give the impression of a broad-based government and also to deplete the ranks of any opposition to the incoming government.

 

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