Politics
Sylva’s running mate: APC chiefs overrule chairman
In from Olumide Olaoluwa … .
At least 15 members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State on Thursday distanced themselves from an alleged desperation of the party’s chairman, Chief Tiwei Orunimigha, to become running mate to the party’s governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva.
Tiwei’s insistence on running with Sylva in the December 5 governorship election has created divisions in the party.
Youths working for Tiwei on Tuesday invaded the secretariat of the APC in Yenagoa.
They pulled down billboards and vandalised other campaign materials of Sylva insisting that Tiwei must be the running mate.
But members of the SWC said they were not part of the running mate debacle.
Some of the persons who disowned the chairman’s position are the party’s Secretary, Marlin Daniel; Youth Leader, Mr. Edison Sorgwe; the Financial Secretary, Seiyefa Oruabere; the Organising Secetary, Tonye Okio; the Publicity Secetary, Fortune Panebi; the Assistant Secetary, Alabo Martins and the Woman Leader, Cynthia Boro.
They said they were not in support of an alleged decision by few aggrieved persons to side Tiwei against the choice of Sylva.
Read also: APC chairman, ex-militant, Sylva brawl over choice of dep
The executive members in a position paper presented by Sorgwe said that the claims that Tiwei had been adopted were wrong, misplaced and mischievous.
“The purported communiqué in circulation is fictitious as the signatures of members were those taken during the numerous meetings of the working committee.
“The decision by the flag bearer to choose a running mate is personal and an independent one,” Sorgwe said.
He described the attack on the party secretariat by youths loyal to Tiwei as unfortunate and insisted that the leadership of the party was at home with the choice of Sylva.
He said Sylva’s decision to choose a technocrat and retired Principal, Wilberforce Titus Igiri as a running mate, was a welcome development.
According to him the choice of a running mate is an exclusive right of the candidate.
“We are comfortable with the choice of our party leader and consider it robust for the victory of the party during the December 5 election,” he said.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...