Bayelsa guber: Meeting to adopt APC primaries mode ends in stalemate

The meeting by the Bayelsa state leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) to choose a mode of primary for the forthcoming governorship in the state has ended in a stalemate.

Stakeholders at the event said the meeting ended abruptly because of the inability of the party’s state chairman to consult properly with his working committee to agree on the agenda before the meeting.

During the meeting at the party’s state secretariat in Yenagoa on Tuesday, some members of the state working committee were opposed to the meeting, when the chairman came up with the issue for the mode of primary.

The meeting which also had in attendance the three governorship aspirants including Chief Timipre Sylva, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Preye Aganaba, caused serious disagreement between the stakeholders which brought the meeting to an abrupt end.

Speaking with Journalists after the meeting, the spokesperson for Senator Heineken Lokpobiri campaign organization, Mr Pere Peretu, said that majority of the stakeholders at the meeting felt that the chairman’s approach was wrong.

Reacting to the incident, the chairman of APC in Bayelsa state, Barr. Jonathan Amos, said the meeting did not end in deadlock as being claimed, noting that stakeholders actually adopted a direct primary mode.

He said: “You know, since we used direct primaries during the presidential, national and state assemblies elections, we also decided that a direct primary model should also be used for our own governorship election.

“So, it is now left for aspirants to go to the different wards to consult with party members who will form the electorates during the primaries. You know, we are very careful on what we are doing, so that what happened in Rivers, Zamfara and other places during the last election will not happen here in Bayelsa state.

“We want our governorship primaries to be free and peaceful, so the meeting did not end in deadlock; a direct primary model was adopted.”