Achonu, Sylva, Win Imo LP, Bayelsa APC Governorship Primaries Tickets

By Adesina Soyooye

The immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum, Sylva Timipere, has won the Governorship Primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC. He will, therefore, be the candidate of the Party in the November 11, 2023 elections.

And, in Imo State, the much anticipated Primary for the Labour Party Governorship Candidate was won by Athan Achonu, popular as One Arm General.

Sylva surprised not a few people when he, last month, resigned from office and joined the Governorship race in his State. He had, before now, expressed interest in the Presidential race but chickened out after paying the sum of N100 millions for the forms.

He was a one-term Governor of the State under the Peoples Democratic Party which denied him the ticket for a second term in office in favour of Senator Seriake  Dickson. He decamped to the APC from where he contested again, and failed.

But in 2019, he backed David Lyon against the now incumbent Governor, Senator Duoye Diri.

Lyon won the election, but was sacked on the eve of his swearing-in ceremony by the Supreme Court over inconsistencies in the documents of his running mate.

Many people thought the Party was going to field Lyon again as compensation, but Sylva threw in his hat into the ring.

In the Direct Primary held in the State over a period of two days – Friday and Saturday, Sylva won in a landslide. He scored a total number of 52,061 votes to defeat Joshua Maclver, his closest rival who scored 2,078 votes.

And, in a surprise in LP, Imo State, which emanated from a very keen contest, Achonu  defeated a solid field to emerge the Candidate of the Labour Party.

Not a few people put their bet on either Major General Lincoln Ogunewe, rtd, or Chief Martin Agbaso, both from the Owerri Senatorial Zone, but Achonu, the only Candidate from Okigwe Zone, Imo North, beat Ogunewe and Agbaso.

While Achonu scored 134 votes, Ogunewe scored 121 votes, and Agbaso, an unbelievable 13 votes.

Achonu had, in 2015, won the Senatorial election for Imo North, but was removed by the Supreme Court in favour of the late Benjamin Uwajimogu.

With the Primaries of the three major political parties – APC, LP, PDP – in Imo over, the battle field is set for their three Candidates – APC’s Governor Hope Uzodinma, LP’s Athan Achonu and PDP’s Senator Samuel Anyanwu to slug it out on 11, November, 2023.

In Bayesa, Sylva will slug it out with the incumbent Governor, Senator Diri of the PDP.