A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State has listed expectations from the Minister of state for petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Chief Richard Kpodoh who was the state security adviser to Sylva as the governor of the state said he expected the APC leader in the state to give proper direction to the party to enable it win the forthcoming governorship election.
This is even as he hailed the President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing and giving him such a sensitive office to head.
Kpodoh urged Sylva to play a fatherly role as the party works towards the emergence of a credible candidate for the November election. He also said the former governor should have the interest of the party at heart, instead of working for a particular aspirant.
“It is very gratifying to observe that Mr President has recognised our former governor, Timipre Sylva for such an exalted office as minister of state for petroleum. We are happy. I personally congratulate him on this feat.
“I will want to appeal to my former boss and party leader to do all he can to make sure that the APC produces a credible candidate for the election, somebody who has been there, somebody who knows our politics, somebody with a track record of service to our people.
“I will plead with the minister to ensure a level playing field for all the aspirants. We will not want to see a repeat of the chaos that greeted the 2015 primary election, which made some people to leave our party.
“I have looked thoroughly at the aspirants from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in our state and I have seen that none of the people can stand us if we are united. That time has come that our party leader will need to lead the party to victory. And it starts from a peaceful, transparent primary election.
“There is crisis already in the PDP over their choice of candidate. We must not follow the same path. I plead with our leader and all stakeholders in the party to work together for us to produce a candidate that will be acceptable by all; someone we know can win the battle for us. This is no time to do trial by error. Let us bring up someone who has been tested in the past.”
Kpodoh said the party could pay dearly if a wrong candidate emerged from its primary expected to hold next week. “I am particular about our choice of candidate. We can pay dearly for any mistake of fielding a wrong candidate.
“Let us not look at how much money an aspirant has to throw about. Let us look at the quality of the aspirants and their antecedent in public service as we inch closer to our primary. This is my humble plea to our new minister and party leader,” he added.
