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Six Weeks to Guber Poll, Bayelsa APC Splits into Factions
With less than six weeks to the November 16 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, another major crisis is presently rocking the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as two factions emerged yesterday. While the two factions laid claim to leadership, they were also suspending each other’s executives.
The faction loyal to former Governor and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, suspended some factional members loyal to former Minister for state for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri.
The faction loyal to Lokpobiri in turn indefinitely suspended the Sylva’s factional executives led by the state Chairman, Jonathan Amos and other officers over alleged acts of misconduct and intentionally creating division in the party.
Those members of the party suspended by the Sylva-led faction include, 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 were Olorogun Isaac, Secretary, Ekeremor local government council and Peter Bofumu, Chairman Sagbama local government council.
In a statement issued by Sylva-led faction indicated that the suspension order became imperative following the petition brought before it at an emergency meeting held at the state party secretariat in Yenagoa.
State chairman of the party, Jonathan Amos explained in alliance with the resolution reached by the committee that, the aforementioned people were suspended due to gross misconduct and anti-party activities which was reported and investigated.
He said, 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.
According to him, 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.
The Assistant Organising Secretary of the party, Tari Emberru who raised the motion for their suspension, maintained that the consistent show of truancy and misconduct by the affected persons, undermines the unity of the party and should not be tolerated.
Also speaking in favour of the motion, the state party auditor, Barrister Doumo Ogbomani argued that the affected persons have acted against article 31 section A; subsection 7 of the APC constitution, stressing that a house divided against itself can not stand.
It is gathered that, the committee also used the medium to advise the general public to henceforth seize to deal with those set of suspended persons as members of APC, adding that whoever does that, is doing it at their own peril.
But, the Lokpobiri loyalists in a swift reaction and led by the state deputy chairman, indefinitely suspended seven of its officers over alleged acts of misconduct and intentionally creating division in the party.
They are: 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 Organizing Secretary; Mr. Osadebe Ezinrin, the Treasurer; Lovely Agwor, and organizing secretary of Sagbama local government council.
The suspension they said was pursuant to the report of the State 4-man Disciplinary Committee over formal complaints against various party officials.
Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted to her acquittal by a London court after bribery charges brought against her were dismissed.
The Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday acquitted the former minister of all charges, including five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Reacting to the judgment, Alison-Madueke expressed relief and said she and her family had endured years of emotional distress over the case.
Speaking to News Central, she said she has remained in the United Kingdom since the legal proceedings began 11 years ago.
She said: “I’m just thankful to God, it’s been arduous, almost 11 years. It’s been traumatic not just for me but for my family, friends, my 93-year-old mother in Port Harcourt and for my son.
“It has been a hard journey, but I tell you this, God will always do as He will. God will be God and God is not a man that He should lie; when He promises you something, He will see it through.
“For almost 11 years I have been here. I did my job to the best of my ability.”
The lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the Senate, Ireti Kingibe, says she did not see any report that led to the suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Kingibe made this disclosure on Wednesday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.
She said she was at a retreat with Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, when she heard about the report.
“I never saw the report that led to Natasha’s suspension. I was at a retreat. I had earlier stated that I was there with three or four other senators who are members of the committee.
“We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat, which I considered more important at the time.
“It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator, and I figured that the other people who were not part of that committee would take care of it.
“I even complained to other Senators, specifically to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. I complained to him very bitterly that I had not seen that report. I didn’t see it then. I have not seen it till now,” she said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stay the execution of the judgment that ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
The Commission also threw its weight behind a notice of appeal lodged by the political parties.
Addressing a three-member panel of the appellate court on Tuesday, the electoral body said it was shocked by the decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja to deliver the judgment despite an order that stopped him from doing so.
INEC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Haliru Mohammed, decried that it was not notified that the judgment would be delivered, saying it only heard about the court’s decision through media reports.
“My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgment of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgment. We only saw it as breaking news in the media.
“We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment.”
Likewise, counsel to the ADC, Mr. Shuaibu Aruwa, SAN, told the appellate court that Justice Lifu notified the party of the delivery of the judgment via WhatsApp.
Insisting that the decision of the high court was an invitation to anarchy, counsel to the ADC urged the appellate court to invoke its powers and sanction Justice Lifu for disrespecting the judicial hierarchy.
“Sincerely, my Lords, a lot has happened to the judiciary and this profession. What the trial judge did was dare this Court of Appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgment, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court.
“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button.
“We are calling on this court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“We urge this court to take disciplinary steps by immediately suspending that judgment. This court has the power to protect its own integrity. We pray this court suspends the judgment immediately without further delay,” ADC’s lawyer submitted.
The other parties also drew the attention of the appellate court panel to the fact that on June 20, INEC would conduct by-elections across six states of the federation.
They contended that if the judgment were not stayed, it would create problems across the country, maintaining that the Court of Appeal has inherent powers to act in a supervisory capacity and not allow its orders to be disregarded by lower courts.
The appellate court is still hearing submissions from the other parties in the matter.
It will be recalled that aside from the ADC, the other parties the high court directed INEC to deregister are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
According to the court, the five political parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements to warrant their continued existence and participation in future elections.
It barred INEC from further according recognition to the parties, accepting nominations of candidates from the affected parties, or giving effect to their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.
Moreover, Justice Lifu ordered the defendants to stop parading themselves as registered political parties in the country.
He held that there was merit in a suit filed against them by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).
The group, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, prayed the court to determine whether INEC has a constitutional obligation to remove political parties that fail to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as reinforced by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s regulations.
It was the position of the plaintiff that the five political parties listed as defendants had persistently failed to meet the constitutional benchmarks required to retain their registration.
The former legislators stressed that the requirements include winning at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state, or local government level.
They told the court that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in both the 2023 general elections and by-elections conducted by INEC, thereby failing to win seats across key tiers of government.
