APC Chairman Is Forcing Delegates To Vote For Sylva – Kpodo

A leader of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa state, Chief Perekeme Kpodo, has accused the party’s chairman, Tiwei Orunimigbe of doctoring the list of delegates and also compelling delegates to vote for Chief Timpre Sylva, a former governor of the state.

Chief Kpodo said Orunimigbe had been taking delegates to the house of a chieftain where they were allegedly asked to vote for Sylva at the primary, The Punch reports.

Chief Kpodo decried the situation demoing that all aspirants should be given a level playing field during the primary. He said that forcing delegates to vote for a particular aspirant negated the principles of democracy, adding that the party would lose the governorship election if Sylva emerges as the party’s candidate.

 “I want to use this opportunity to advise the delegates not to yield to the manipulation by Tiwei Orunimighe because as the state chairman of the party, he has no right under the constitution to compel delegates to vote for a particular aspirant when you have many aspirants.

“Our position is that the party’s leadership cannot support one candidate; they should allow the delegates to make their choice.

“We got the information that Orunimighe carried delegates to a chieftain’s house and that is exactly what he has been doing, persuading and compelling the delegates, but some of them have been complaining.

“What they have done now is to change the delegates’ list to suit them because of a hidden agenda and that is why they have blackmailed some of us who are supposed to correct some of these problems,” he said.

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Kpodo, however, called on the party’s national leadership to intervene in the matter and ensure that delegates were given a free hand to choose the candidate of their choice. He also warned that attempts to compel delegates to vote for one aspirant would spell doom for the party.

“If Sylva is given the ticket of the APC, the APC will scatter and it will fail woefully in the main election. That is exactly what the opposition is praying for. But if we bring any other credible candidate in the APC, you will see a serious fight. It is a battle. To defeat an incumbent governor, you know what it means.

“Orunimighe, who is driving the whole process for Sylva, is also not a material. Those people who defected to the APC came with their groups and that was why you saw the crowds. They are also a critical factor.”

Meanwhile, the media officer to the chairman of the party, Mr. Alawoei Opukume, has slammed Chief Kpodo, saying he was no longer a member of the APC. He added that since Kpodo was not a member of the party nor an aspirant, he had no right to criticise the party.

According to the Punch, Opukeme described Kpodo as a blackmailer who was bent on seeking relevance adding that he had since been expelled by the APC for anti-party activities.

“As far as we are concerned, Kpodo is not an APC member. He is simply an impostor and does not have any atom of integrity,” he said.

In another development, a former governor and chieftain of the PDP in Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha has recalled his post-jail meetings with ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo who played a major role in his impeachment, arrest and imprisonment.

Alamieyeseigha in a recent interview said that the former president felt clearly uneasy when the two of them accidentally met at the Katsina airport VIP lounge after his release from prison. According to the ex-governor, they came face to face at the restrooms and Obasanjo was overwhelmed when he shook his hands.

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