Lyon, Diri set to clash in Bayelsa gov’ship contest

With candidates of the major political parties already known, the Bayelsa State governorship election will be between a core politician and a strong philanthropist. With the conclusion of the political parties primaries, most especially those of the two dominant parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State, the […]

With candidates of the major political parties already known, the Bayelsa State governorship election will be between a core politician and a strong philanthropist.

With the conclusion of the political parties primaries, most especially those of the two dominant parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State, the coast is now clear that the two titans who are Chief David Lyon, the APC candidate and Senator Douye Diri, the PDP candidate will be battling for the governorship position of the state come November 16, 2019.

Both Lyon and Diri emerged winners of their respective parties’ primaries last week, thereby preparing ground for the main governorship election in November, to determine who occupies the “Creek Haven,” – how Bayelsa government house will be called come February 14, 2020.

Lyon has never held a political office in the state. But he has been into oil business for years, using it to empower several people in the state, while Diri has been a familiar name in the politics of Bayelsa. Diri has constantly risen in the ranks of politics from 2012, holding several public offices.

Diri was a Commissioner for Youths during Governor Seriake Dickson’s first tenure before he was elected into the House of Representatives in 2015, a position he held for four years and subsequently won another election in 2019 into the Senate where he represents Bayelsa Central Senatorial District.

While Lyon, a new entrant into the political contest in the state defeated six other contenders, including a formerminister, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, to clinch the APC ticket. Diri defeated 20 other contestants to emerge as his party’s candidate in the early hours of Thursday.

Certainly, Lyon, the APC candidate, is backed by Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum and the leader of the APC in the state, who will give the PDP a tough challenge.

Pundits say that he may even win if the PDP fails to do its “homework properly” because the APC candidate is being seen by many Bayelsans as a philanthropist who has impacted on the lives of the people over the years.

He has used his oil surveillance contracts to impact and empower several youths of the state, especially in his local government, Southern Ijaw and others like Brass, Nembe and Yenagoa. Analysts say that if the APC goes into the November 16 election as a united house, the party will certainly cause an upset to the PDP which has already chosen Diri, as its candidate.

Lyon’s home local government of Southern Ijaw, has the highest voting strength in Bayelsa, a pointer to the fact that it may provide about 70 to 80 per cent of those votes to their son apart from the support of his so-called “godfather” and the leader of the APC in the state, Chief Sylva. Sylva is a force to reckon with in Brass and Nembe local government areas, places known as the APC strongholds.

During the presidential and National Assembly election held early this year, Lyon was instrumental to APC’s success in Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, where his close ally, Preye Oseke, defeated the then Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr Konbowei Benson, to clinch the National Assembly seat.

Currently, the APC has one Senator from the state, two House of Representatives members and some state assembly members, most of them from the Bayelsa East Senatorial District, which is the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s home district.

The PDP, on the other hand, dominates Governor Seriake Dickson’s home local government, Sagbama and others like Ekeremor, Yenagoa, Ogbia, Yenagoa and Kolokuma/Opokuma, Diri’s home local government.

Pundits say though Diri is seen as somebody who has not done well in the past few years since he has been in government in terms of empowerment programmes, he will benefit from Governor Dickson’s popularity and firm control of some local governments in the state.

The Restoration Caucus, the PDP group that produced Diri, is well-rooted in the eight local governments of the state. The group is seen as a faction of the PDP led by Governor Dickson, the governor has placed several experienced politicians in strategic places to execute the November 16 election.

Despite the fact that Diri is from the least local government area in the state, Kolokuma/Opokuma, with lowest voting strength, he is expected to benefit from Governor Dickson’s strength, unlike the APC candidate, Lyon, who is from the largest local government, Southern Ijaw, with the highest voting strength. In the 2015 governorship election, it was the Southern Ijaw that determined the eventual winner.

Analysts say the two dominant parties, the PDP and the APC, have chances of winning the election if they can put their houses in order and go into the election as a united family.

The PDP has been ruling Bayelsa State from 1999 till date. Basking in that euphoria, the road to victory for the party may be very smooth. But analysts say such victory can’t come again on the platter as the APC, being the ruling party at the centre, will definitely come out stronger by improving on its strength during the 2019 general elections as the pendulum can swing in their favour.

Majority of Bayelsans, who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday after the party’s primaries, believed that what the masses need now is a government committed to empowering people instead of creating hardship, a mood that is favourable to Lyon being a philanthropist.

Meanwhile, some of the governorship aspirants in the two leading political parties have expressed divergent views on the primaries. While some have accepted the outcome and congratulated the winners, others have rejected the exercise.

In the PDP, the ex-Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, is not satisfied with the conduct of the exercise that produced Senator Diri. But a top party source confided in Daily Trust on Sunday that the process of reconciliation was ongoing.

Also, in the APC, two out the five defeated governorship aspirants, the immediate past Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Lokpobiri and Engineer Preye Aganaba, have also rejected the outcome of the primary election that produced Chief Lyon. They are currently working to contest the outcome. However, a reconciliatory move is also ongoing.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, who spoke after casting his vote at the direct governorship primary of the APC in Okpoama Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area of the state, said that the APC would go into the November 16 governorship election as a united family to wrestle power from the PDP. He said the APC is the only hope for Bayelsans.

He said, “I’m happy that at last we’ve had a very peaceful and orderly primaries here in Okpoama Ward 4, everybody conducted themselves in an orderly manner and queued behind the candidates of their choice.

“The conduct of our party members shows that the APC is ready to win Bayelsa State come November 16, 2019. I believe our candidate will be better than whoever the other parties will present.

“We decided to adopt the direct primary where everybody is involved, every member of the party will partake in it, this is the test of what we present at the general election,” he said.

Also, Governor Dickson has said that reconciliatory moves have already commenced in the PDP with some of the major aspirants shortly after the primary election who have pledged their commitment to work for the success of the party.

According to the Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Fidelis Soriwei, Dickson stated this while speaking during the monthly praise night for the month of August at the government house.

Soriwei said that among the PDP aspirants who had met with the governor were the deputy governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah, Keniebi Okoko, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Chief Talford Ongolo.

He said they also had an informal discussion with the party candidate, Senator Diri.

He called for tolerance and maturity among the political class during the gubernatorial election scheduled for November 16, 2019 urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies to ensure that they conduct free, fair and credible gubernatorial elections.

Apparently, the people of Bayelsa State are eager to elect the next occupant of “Creek Haven.” But with the present situation, the next governor of the state will come from either the PDP or the APC, which is still struggling to establish its roots in the South-South region.