Former Minister of state for Agriculture and one of the aspirants for the governorship of Bayelsa state, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri has warned his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to field candidates with baggages if it wants to win the November governorship election in Bayelsa state.
Lokpobiri also stated that indirect primary was the best way to choose the flag bearer for the party without any crisis in the state.
Speaking after obtaining his nomination and expression of interest forms at the APC national Secretariat on Thursday in Abuja, the former Senator also denied any rift between him and former governor of the state, Timiprye Silva.
“Let me make it categorically clear that I don’t have any problem with Sylva. Sylva is a Bayelsa man, he is a Bayelsa leader, just like all the other ones we have here with me and I will never have any problem with him.
“The only time there will be problem in Bayelsa or problems during primary is not to conduct transparent and credible primary election. That is why in my wisdom and the wisdom of the majority members of the party, indirect primary is the best way to go.
“By the time authentic delegates of the party gathered in a designated place that is well secured, the winner will clearly emerged and the losers will also know that they were given a fair chance, and that is what we as a party want.
“If you hear anywhere somebody is rooting for direct primary, that is the person’s opinion but I believe that as a party and the majority of the supporters in Bayelsa state prefer indirect primary election.
“Like I always say, the only way we can avoid division and ensure that there is credibility in the process is to ensure that we have the indirect primary.
“Let me assure you that Bayelsa in the last election got 40% , this time around we will win and we will win big. How many Bayelsans are in PDP? Majority of voters are not party men but what determines the failure of the process in any party in an election is the quality of your candidate. If the candidate has the highest quality then you have already won the election by 60%. But if you bring a candidate with a lot of questionable issues then you are about to fail the election and we have had that experience.” he said.
