Bayelsa polls: Gov Diri woos Lokpobiri, Lyon as cracks deepen in APC

…secures Jonathan’s support with promise to anoint successor from Ogbia*

With about one month to the November 11 governorship election, there are indications that the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State is facing a serious crack among its rank and file and top echelons.

Although about 10 political parties are fielding candidates, the serious battle between Governor Douye Diri,l seeking re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and a former Minister of State for Petroleum and former Governor of the state, Chief Timpreye Sylva.

Sources close to Diri said on Sunday that he is exploring the division in the APC to woo its members by dangling irresistible carrots to make them endorse him.

Diri was said to have reached out to and lured prominent APC leaders, particularly those who have beef with Sylva.

They included the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and 2019 governorship candidate, David Lyon, in his camp.

Lokpobiri and Lyon are reported to be secretly working for Diri’s re-election and have distanced themselves from the campaigns and political activities of Sylva in the countdown to the election.

The gulf between Lokpobiri and Sylva was said to have deepened following Sylva’s refusal to back his ministerial bid after APC won the presidential poll.

Lyon, who was defeated at the primary has an axe to grind with the APC governorship candidate because he lost out.

Lyon was sacked as Bayelsa state governor-elect by the Supreme Court in February 2020.

He had thought that he would be given the right of first refusal in considering the governorship candidate of the APC in the November 11 election.

The PUNCH learnt that reconciliation in the cracks in Bayelsa APC has hit the rock as pleas by the national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and other top leaders to the warring chieftains have fallen on deaf ears.

Diri is capitalising on the polarisation to further divide the opposition ranks by giving a lot of concessions ahead of the poll. He has promised to hand over to Lokpobiri as governor, with Lyon as deputy governor, if the duo can fully abandon Sylva and team up with him to consolidate his grip on Bayelsa State”, a source said.

Lokpobiri and Lyon have reportedly fallen for the carrot.

Diri was said to have conceded 50 slots of Senior Special Assistants to each of Lokpobiri and Lyon with further promise to carry them along in decision-making.

“This unholy alliance between the governor and APC top chieftains implies that the two may have to defect to the PDP after Lokpobiri has served his term as minister in the Tinubu administration ahead of the battle to succeed Diri in 2026”, a source said.

Sources in PDP said that the governor is threatened by the aloofness of his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, who has distanced himself from the Diri administration.

In Bayelsa, the former governor and his camp nurse a feeling of alienation and marginalisation and efforts by the PDP national leadership to broker a truce have not succeeded.

Dickson was said to be disenchanted that Diri was running the show, especially with the opposition elements without his input.

However, Diri has not limited its ‘succession promises’ to Lokpobiri and Lyon and the APC family alone but to other bigwigs in his party.

A source hinted that the governor has also promised Senator Benson Agadaga (Bayelsa East) the succession opportunity.

Agadaga is from Ogbia, the base of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The source said, “Diri is promising succession across party lines by making overtures to APC and PDP.  He also promised the Director General of his campaign council, Hon. Mitema Obodor, who is a member of the House of Representatives, to represent the Ogbia Constituency of succession.

“So, also is Robert Enogha, a former Commissioner and two-time Bayelsa State House of Assembly member, who also hails from Ogbia.

“The three of them, Diri has made succession promises to –  Obodor; Agadaga and Enogha, are all of Goodluck Jonathan’s stock in Ogbia. This succession promise for Ogbia guys was a deceitful plot to secure Dr. Jonathan’s blessing and support in the November poll.

“Surprisingly, former President Goodluck Jonathan has also fallen for the bait. He is supporting Diri’s election because of the dummy the governor has sold to him that one of his kinsmen from Ogbia is going to succeed him after his second term in office.”