The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State
took a dramatic twist on Wednesday with its governorship candidate,
Timipre Sylva, calling on the Inspector-General of Police, SOLOMON ARASE,
to order the immediate arrest of APC state chairman, Tiwe Oruminighe.
Recurring protests at the party secretariat, it was gathered, is the basis
for the call for the arrest.
Oruminghe is believed to be the person behind the protests and Sylva has
moved fast to put a stop to it.
Since Sylva named an 80 year old retired educationist, Wilberforce Igiri,
as his running mate, there had been protests at the APC secretariat
allegedly sponsored by Oruminighe, causing faceoff between him and the
candidate.
The Bayelsa APC chairman was said to have been promised the slot of
running mate by Sylva but later reneged.
According to a reliable source, Sylva’s request for the arrest of
Oruminighe was contained in a letter to the IG, stating the repeated
protests, destruction of properties at the party secretariat and the
danger to public peace.
The party chairman was also accused of planning to further sponsor a mass
protest against the candidature of Sylva, purportedly on the premise of
anti-corruption protest to call for the former governor to be dropped as
candidate.
Sylva has allegedly claimed in the letter that the planned protest was a
plot to disturb the peace in the state
“What is playing out is normal in politics. Sylva is only engaging in
power show. You recall Sylva promised Tiwe the deputy slot but why not
fulfill his promise? So you can see that Tiwe is only protesting that
action and it will surely continue no matter the call for arrest. His
deadly boys, about 1000 armed boys, are slated for the planned protest and
it will be difficult for anybody to stop it because of their leader,
Tiwe,” a source disclosed.
However, supporters loyal to Tiwe have debunked Sylva’s claim, saying that
the planned protest would be peaceful and mainly to call on the EFCC and
President Buhari to stop the APC from fielding Sylva as candidate in the
December 5governorship election in Bayelsa State.
They stated that their concern was in the interest of the party as
fielding Sylva in their estimation will spell doom for the party at the
polls.
Another source among Tiwe’s supporters, however, informed our reporter
that the objective of the protest was also to checkmate Sylva as he was
said to be “desperate” to rid Tiwe of his chairmanship of the party in the
state.
“We are prepared to resist every move to short-change our chairman after
all he (Tiwe) has done to support Sylva in clinching the governorship
ticket”, the source claimed.
Meanwhile, a faction of APC supporters loyal to the governorship aspirant,
TimI Alaibe, was said to have indicated interest in supporting the PDP
candidate, the incumbent Seriake Dickson.
Sources hinted the faction told party leaders at a recent meeting that its
action was necessitated by the emergence of Sylva as candidate which, it
claimed, had effectively shut out other key interest groups in the race.
“Now that the APC has succumbed to Sylva, Bayelsans have a right to wonder
whether this is the kind of change the party promised Nigerians. And if
not, whether the welfare of Bayelsans is of no consequence? Why must the
APC now seek to restore Bayelsa to a state of anarchy where warlords now
have full reign?” he asked.
While awaiting the worst, Oruminighe and his supporters are believed to be
on top of the protest plan to hold in Yenagoa, the state capital early
next week.
Among inscriptions on their already prepared placards which our reporter
saw were issues on Sylva as liability to the APC, bothering on lack of
performance in his 5-year sojourn as governor, diversion of money for
civil servants salaries, N300 billion World Bank Agric loan, N3 billion
MDG funds, N125 billion bond wastes and a legacy of high profile debt.