The All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State has revealed that, the party’s governorship candidate and the immediate-past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has been the state chapter’s sole funder.
According to The PUNCH, this was stated by the state APC chairman, Dennis Otiotio, after a solidarity walk which culminated in a grand reception for Sylva by supporters at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa.
This came as he announced that the party had formed a reconciliation committee led by Prof. Millionaire Abowei to meet with disgruntled governorship candidates who were unhappy with the outcome of the primary election that produced Sylva as the party’s standard bearer for the November 11 elections.
Otiotio stated that members and supporters agreed to host the gathering to welcome Sylva back home after he travelled to Abuja shortly after the exercise.
He said that the former governor had always borne the financial burden of the state APC, and that party supporters wanted to use the magnificent reception to show their affection for him and devotion to his electoral triumph.
The APC chairman said, “Timipre Sylva has been the sole sponsor of the party in the previous elections. He has been the pillar behind the party; he has been the sole financier of the party and the people felt that now that he has been elected the candidate of our party, we have to come out en masse and show him love and commitment.
“We want to tell him that we are behind him and we will move all the way to ensure that he is elected Governor of Bayelsa State come November 11, 2023.”
Sylva was declared the winner of the April 14–15 election by the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee, Ahmed Jibrin.
Sylva received 52,061 votes to win the governorship ticket, according to Jibrin, who made the announcement at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa. Joshua Maciver, a former militant leader, finished second with 2,078 votes.
