Tension in Bayelsa APC over recent suspensions

TRACKING____The recent suspension of 13 leaders of Bayelsa State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has widened the crack that has threatened the chapter since 2019. Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that except the national leadership of the party steps in to truly reconcile the warring members, the battle may be a costly long race.

Last weekend’s suspension of Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Preye Aganaba and 11 other chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State have further widened the cracks within the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC). Our investigations during the week confirm that except the national leadership of the party steps in to effect a more realistic reconciliation, the impending battle may prove to be a costly long race.

The disagreements between the top leaders of the party in the state, which began as post-primary disputes, could not be resolved during the November 16, 2019 Governorship Election; a development that led to the recent suspensions.

Spokesman for the state APC, Doifie Buokoribo, in a statement, named the suspended 13 leaders of the party as Heineken Lokpobiri, Preye Aganaba, Warman Ogoriba, Orubebe Ogeibiri, C. T. Olorogun, Pius Otia, Osomkime Blankson, Samuel Aredeh, Ebierien Itubo, Peres Peretu, Sunday Frank-Oputu, Azikiwe Amasigha and Fortune Panebi.

He said their suspension followed the report of the Disciplinary Committee set up on July 31, 2019 to investigate allegations of anti-party activities levelled against the affected members.

He explained that the probe panel was constituted in accordance with Article 21, sub-section B and D of the APC Constitution of 2014 as amended, adding that the State Executive Council (SEC) of the party had looked into the allegations of anti-party activities levelled against them which were against the party constitution.

“The State Executive Committee of the party objectively looked into the several allegations of anti-party activities levelled against them that ran contrary to the provisions of the APC constitution, morally and good conscience, which brought about great electoral misfortune.

“The action is to send signal to deviants masquerading in the party, especially those working against its collective interest and aspirations,” he said.

If the state party leadership gives the impression that the suspension will help to end the crisis, reactions from the affected politicians confirm the fears that it would only help to widen the cracks in the state APC.

For example, in his reaction to the news of the suspension, Warman Ogoriba, a former member of the House of Representatives, described the suspension as ‘kangaroo’.

As he puts it: “I don’t want to take issues with them. The suspension does not make any sense to me. As far as I am concerned, it is a kangaroo suspension.

“As a group, we have yet to meet. When we meet, we will take a decision and tell the world what is transpiring.”

Another affected politician, Fortune Panebi, said it is laughable. “As far as I am concerned, the suspension is nonsensical. How many are they to suspend any person? There was no executive council meeting; there was no State Working Committee meeting and they do not have the number to suspend any person.

“We were not engaged in any anti-party activities. It is not true and it is a lie from the pit of hell. We cannot do that. The whole thing was just contrived to give the impression that there is crisis in Bayelsa APC so that APC national will intervene. We will address the media very soon on the development,” he said.

Fear of deeper crisis

Other stakeholders in the party who also frowned at the way the suspension was arrived at and the way it was announced have warned that the crisis must be resolved to save the party from what they described as ‘a deeper crisis.”

One of such stakeholders is Chief Tony Ogoriba, who described himself as an APC supporter. He told The Nation that “what happened in the state APC the other Friday, where some people claimed that they have suspended 13 leaders of the party in the state, including major governorship aspirants during last year’s governorship election, Lokpobiri and Aganaba, is a dangerous step that will only widen the cracks within the party. To me, the action looks like cheap vengeance borne out of suspicion. There is this dangerous rumour here that it may have been done to nip in the bud alleged plot to prepare Lokpobiri as a possible candidate for the National Chairman of the APC. Though we could not prove this, we, lovers of APC in Bayelsa believe that taking this kind of action at a time like this may hurt the party more. Now that the politics of the leadership of the party’s National Working Committee seems to have been settled, I think here in Bayelsa, our aim should be to do everything necessary to heal our party and move on. These suspensions only means division, not unity and that is not what we need as a party after losing the governorship seat the way we lost it.

“APC members and the people of Bayelsa still see the APC as a party to win the state any day. Don’t forget that Bayelsans voted overwhelmingly for APC’s David Lyon during the last governorship election. That was why APC got over 300,000 votes during the governorship election. It is unfortunate that APC lost out due to court rulings. So, now that we found ourselves still in the opposition, it would be a shame to continue to fight amongst ourselves. What our people expect from us is to offer a vibrant opposition so that the ruling the Peoples Democratic Party will sit up. Only a united opposition can do that.”

Mr. Kingsley Opotobo, a political analyst and keen observer of Bayelsa State politics, told The Nation in Lagos that genuine members of APC in Bayelsa and their supporters are worried over the current development because of its likely effects of the fortunes of the party, especially during soon-to-conducted elections like the senatorial elections for Bayelsa West and Bayelsa Central. “Genuine members of APC in the state and their supporters are really worried and are calling on the warring leaders to stop this fight and work together. This, they said is not the right time to fight in the market place. It would have been more prudent to forgive each other and unite to win the remaining elections. APC may have lost the governorship in the state, but no one needs to be told what it stands to gain if it wins the two senatorial seats. Is it by fighting each other and suspending one another through controversial means that the party will win these elections against the ruling PDP?”

Opotobo also expressed reservation over the process that led to the suspensions. As he puts it: “So much have been said over whether the party leadership actually complied with Article 21 of the party constitution before suspending the chieftains. But if the allegation that the affected chieftains were never invited by any committee to answer questions, then it seems so much have gone wrong and it would be in the interest of APC to seek ways of reconciling this anomalies before any new elections in the state.”

Beginning of the crisis

Ironically, when the disagreement between the leading APC chieftains in the state, Timipre Sylva and Lokpobiri, was first observed long before the last governorship election, they vehemently denied the claims, saying that all was well. Their supporters also denied any form of disagreement between the two.

For example, as far back as May 2019, one of the insider politicians that loudly denied such development was Hon. Wilson Ayakpo Dauyegha, who then represented Ekeremor 11 constituency, in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. He said it was: “False rumour and propaganda currently being speculated by retrogressive persons in our state.”

Urging APC members and other supporters of the party to ignore the ‘rumour,’ he said “Please note that both distinguished personalities are leaders and fathers of our ever caring great party-APC. They have a common goal: APC to win the governorship election and move Bayelsa State to the next level of economic development, growth and empowerment. They are therefore Siamese Twins, inseparable and are presently working assiduously round the clock to ensure a resounding victory on November 16, 2019. It is important to emphasise that the rumour mongers are scared of APC and have now resulted to a campaign of calumny. APC must not allow them, because many are already crossing over to our party, with many others preparing to come in,” Dauyegha had said.

Our investigation confirmed that it was such claims that confused observers and made it difficult for all to see the depth of the crisis within Bayelsa APC until it became rather too late to resolve before the November elections.

It was not until barely a month to the election, precisely in October 2019, when clear emergence of two factions made it obvious to all that all was not well in the state’s APC.

At that time, two factions emerged, one loyal to former Bayelsa governor and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and the other loyal to former Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, laying claims to the leadership of the state chapter of APC in Bayelsa. The two parties did not stop at laying claims to the leadership of the party, but also suspended each other’s executives.

While the faction loyal to Sylva suspended some factional members loyal to Lokpobiri, the faction loyal to Lokpobiri also suspended indefinitely Sylva’s factional executives led by Jonathan Amos and other officers over alleged acts of misconduct and intentionally creating division in the party.

The members suspended by Sylva-led faction then included the party’s Deputy State Chairman, Ogeibiri Orubebe, its Legal Adviser, Toborowei Olorogun, and the Ekeremor Local Government Chairman of the party, Amasighan Azikiwe.

Also suspended by the faction then were Olorogun Isaac, Secretary, Ekeremor Local Government Council and Peter Bofumu, Chairman Sagbama Local Government Council.

The faction said “the suspension order became imperative following the petition brought before it at an emergency meeting held at the state party secretariat in Yenagoa.”

Jonathan Amos, the state chairman, in a statement explained that “in alliance with the resolution reached by the committee, the aforementioned people were suspended due to gross misconduct and anti-party activities which was reported and investigated.”

He said further that “after the direct primaries of the party which saw the emergence of Chief David Lyon as the party’s candidate for the November 16 elections, it is expected that whatever diverse interest anyone had before the primary, should have been dropped for the overall interest of the party,” adding that “the said persons’ refusal to drop the pursuit of their personal interest, is a clear indication they are against the party and their actions could mar the predicted success of the party, necessitating their indefinite suspension from the party.”

Tari Emberru, who raised the motion for their suspension, said “the consistent show of truancy and misconduct by the affected persons undermines the unity of the party and should not be tolerated.”

Other party leaders that spoke in favour of the motion then inclouded Barrister Doumo Ogbomani, who argued that “the affected persons have acted against article 31 section A; subsection 7 of the APC constitution.”

Reacting, Lokpobiri’s loyalists, led by the State Deputy Chairman, suspended indefinitely, seven officers over alleged “acts of misconduct and intentionally creating division in the party.”

The officers suspended by the faction included: Mr. Jonathan Amos, State Chairman; Mr. Martins Alabo, State Secretary; Mr. Peres Oyadongha, Senatorial Youth Leader; Mr. Iniekenimi Senator Mitin.

Others are the Ekeremor Local Government Area Youth, Mr. John Williams, its Organising Secretary; Mr. Osadebe Ezinrin, the Treasurer; Lovely Agwor, and Organising Secretary of Sagbama Local Government Council.

They said the suspension was “pursuant to the report of the State 4-man Disciplinary Committee over formal complaints against various party officials.”

Governorship election intrigues

Following the suspensions and counter suspensions within the APC before the November 16 Governorship Elections, insiders said the party actually participated in the election as a divided house.

It would be recalled that after the emergence of David Lyon as the party’s governorship candidate, the other leading aspirants, like Lokpobiri and Aganaba, challenged in court the outcome of the primary election.

Recent developments have shown that the matter was not fully resolved even when Aganaba reportedly withdrew his case and when the court ruled against Lokpobiri, affirming Lyon as the authentic candidate of the party for the November 16, 2019 governorship election. Even when APC’s Lyon progressed to win the election, only outsiders thought the matter had been resolved.

So, when the Supreme Court stopped Lyon and APC on the eve of the governorship inauguration because the Deputy Governor-elect, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, submitted certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission that were later declared forged and announced Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party, who came second in the election, as governor, informed observers knew it was only a matter of time before the internal crisis in Bayelsa APC would resurrect.

The Nation learnt that various stakeholders in the state APC and beyond are still meeting to agree on the way forward. But it seems supporters of the affected chieftains at the grassroots are still rooting for a fight. For example, the Chairman of Ward 8 in Ekeremor main town in Ekeremor Local Government area of the State, Hon. Japan Christopher, had described the suspension of Senator Lokpobiri, from the area as null and void.’ He said it cannot stand anywhere within the party.

He said “Ward 8 of the APC in Ekeremor Local Council area is where the Senator, Heineken Lokpobiri comes from, and so those who purportedly sat and concocted the suspension order’ are joking and have no powers to suspend Lokpobiri.’

‘Upon hearing the news on Thursday, we called a meeting of the Ward 8 Executives and after close deliberations,’ we have passed a vote of confidence on Senator Lokpobiri. He is a credible leader at the ward, local government and national levels. He operates an all- inclusive style of leadership.”

The Ward Chairman accused the state executive of not “involving the ward chairmen in the purported deliberations which they claimed led to Lokpobiri’s alleged anti-party activities. They sat in a hotel and wrote a suspension order. We reject it and declare from the ward level that the suspension order is illegal,’ he said.

With such reactions, it seems certain that that the battle may just have begun except the national leadership of APC steps in and help reconcile the warring factions.