It is no longer news that the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) and former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva has resigned from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), where he was a founding member.
Key Highlights:
- Timipre Sylva has left the APC.
- His next political destination remains unknown.
- Opposition parties are trying to win his support.
- A Sylva–Seriake Dickson alliance is being discussed.
- Such a move could reshape Bayelsa politics.
What is, however, dominating political discussions in Bayelsa State currently is the next political destination of the former governor, having ditched the APC.
Both political pundits and analysts are merely engaged in conjectures and permutations while trying to read the mind of the Okpoama high chief.
Though Sylva is outside the country at the moment, waiting for the coast to clear over his alleged sponsorship of a failed coup plot against President Bola Tinubu, and another allegation of a $14.86m failed refinery project, his eyes are said to be keenly focused on political developments in the country.
As gathered, his many followers in Bayelsa State are currently in a quandary as to where to pitch their political tent since the APC is no longer considered a comfortable abode for them.
Even opposition political parties in the state are said to be making frantic efforts to woo some of Sylva’s foot soldiers, with a view to using them to convince their principal to identify with their respective political parties.
But not even the closest allies and aides of the former governor are said to have an inkling of what Sylva’s next political destination would be.
Sylva’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Julius Bakoru, simply told The Trumpet that “we are waiting for instructions,” when pressed to disclose his principal’s next political destination.
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While uncertainty trails the former governor’s next political move, some observers opine that Sylva is no longer a force in Bayelsa State’s political equation, since he exited as minister of petroleum at the end of the late Muhammadu Buhari administration.
According to one observer, who didn’t want to be quoted, he said that a lot of water hads passed under Sylva’s political bridge, causing both “corrosion and erosion”, hence the former governor has lost much of what used to stand him out as a very influential politician.
Even so, it was learnt that the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the state has cast its political net ashore, waiting for Sylva and his followers to stream into the party.
Interestingly, some observers still doubt the possibility of Sylva and the National Leader of NDC, Senator Seriake Dickson, forging a chemistry that could see them work together. The two former governors, according to some analysts are like water and oil that can never blend.
Sen. Dickson succeeded Sylva as governor, and throughout the eight years of Dickson’s administration, Sylva remained the butt of criticism whenever Dickson mounted the podium to make a speech, attributing everything that was bad in the state to Sylva’s time as governor.
Nonetheless, the duo’s strategic interest could bring them to bury the hatchet and form a formidable partnership that can recalibrate the political trajectory in Bayelsa.
The NDC is moving like a hurricane in Bayelsa State, attracting both the high and mighty into its fold. The prospect of Dickson and Sylva’s partnership, if well managed, could become a game changer and entrench the party in every nook and cranny of the state, ultimately displacing the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the leading party in Bayelsa State.
