The Bayelsa All Progressives Congress (APC) Youths Vanguard for Real Change has said the party leadership led by national chairman Adams Oshiomhole, is to blame for foisting a candidate with forged credentials on the state chapter of the party; causing the party to lose an election it won on the ballot box at the Supreme Court.
The apex court on February 14, 2020, nullified the election of APC David Lyon and his running mate, Biobarakumo Degi on the ground that the latter forged his certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); and affirmed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Duoye Diri, who has been sworn-in as governor.
“We should be careful not to worsen an already bad situation. People are beginning to see APC as a party that lacks due process and a political group of fraudsters. We have it on good authority that Sylva knew about Degi’s forged documents, yet he went ahead to field him so that APC might lose,” the group’s spokesman, Comrade Johnson Dume, told journalists in Abuja.
The group also condemned the continued assault by thugs on the justices of the Supreme Court over the February 14, 2020 judgment that sacked APC governor-elect, Lyon and his deputy, Degi. Suspected thugs had reportedly besieged the Abuja home of the lead judge, Justice Mary Odili, calling her names for heading the panel, which nullified the APC’s governorship victory in Bayelsa State.
Dume said the APC leadership under Oshiomhole, should apologize to its supporters for the embarrassment the nomination caused them, rather than grandstand. “Why blame Justice Mary Odili? What is her role in our party’s screening and primaries? Is she the one who asked us to field a candidate with fake certificates? It was the same Justice Mary Odili who they now malign that gave judgment on February 13, 2020 to affirm Lyon and Degi’s candidacy. The sudden about-turn projects us as sore losers,” he said.
He asked APC faithful to also hold the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva responsible for the party’s loss at the apex court.
