Sylva, Ododo win APC gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa and Kogi states

Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, emerged victorious in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in Bayelsa State held on Friday and Saturday.

Sylva won with 52,061 votes, defeating five other contenders, including former militant leader Joshua Macaiver and former governor-elect David Lyon, who came second and third, respectively.

The direct mode electoral system was adopted to conduct the exercise in the 105 wards and eight local government areas of the state. After declaring the result, the panel conducted an affirmation exercise with five ad-hoc delegates from each of the 105 wards inside the party’s secretariat in the state capital.

In Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo emerged as the APC gubernatorial candidate. The special congress was presided over by the Chairman of the APC primary election committee and Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle. Ododo’s emergence followed the party’s governorship direct primary held across all the 239 wards of the state. Governor Yahaya Bello stated that the exercise showed that “there is no opposition in Kogi State.”

However, six aspirants who participated in the APC primary in Kogi State rejected the results, claiming that the primary did not hold anywhere in the state. The aspirants urged the Independent National Electoral Commission and the national secretariat of the APC to disregard the results.