Bayelsa guber primary: Sylva held us hostage— Oshiomhole

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who was the returning officer of All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election, has alleged that he and the other officers who supervised the election were intimidated and held hostage by Timipre Sylva’s thugs.

As a result, he has described the emergence of Slyva as a “huge joke”.

Oshiomhole was the Chairman of an electoral committee set up by the national leadership of APC to conduct the primaries.

He said Sylva was not declared winner of the primaries, hence no Certificate of Return (CoR) was issued to him.

Oshiomhole, who spoke to newsmen in Benin City, said while other aspirants agreed to follow the guidelines released by the national leadership of the party, Sylva insisted that the primaries should be conducted without accreditation and even argued that it was wrong for the national secretariat to conduct the primaries insisting that it was the function of the party leadership in the state.

Read also: Bayelsa APC hijacks guber primary, declares Sylva winner

“By the way Sylva conducted himself, it shows that he does not have faith in this democratic process. Sylva insisted that he founded APC in Bayelsa State and therefore cannot understand why people who didn’t fund the party have this right to contest on the platform of the party.

“The reported election of Sylva is a joke because I am the returning officer in that primaries and which is why I function as the Chairman of the Election Committee. The next person is the Secretary. Neither the Secretary nor myself announced any result. It is customary that when election is conducted, the winner of the election is issued a Certificate of Return. As far as I know no such certificate was issued.

“If a member of the committee purport they are now selling results, that is their funeral. That does not in any way alter the rules of the party. Sylva can declare himself but none of this can substitute for due process which the party is committed to. Anybody who wanted to do a shoddy job will not ask people like me to be part of that exercise because I cannot be used for fraud.

“The committee was virtually held hostage including my humble self. These thugs were supervised by one of the aspirants, Mr. Timipre Sylva. Sylvia said to my face that we cannot leave the venue of the exercise unless we carry out the exercise without accreditation as prescribed by the National Secretariat.

“Sylva told me that the committee will not leave unless we were ready to conduct the primaries without recourse to accreditation. I was not in a position to amend the guidelines nor was I ready to submit to intimidation.

“When it was clear that they had mobilized the thugs and the thugs in collaboration with the police took over the stadium, the police left the stadium open and it made the thugs gained access into the venue.

“I have to call on Abuja to prevail on the JTF to provide me with security to leave the venue of the primaries. The thugs have effectively blocked the gate under the instructions of Sylva,” the governor said.

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