By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said the party has a formidable campaign team to win the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa, urging the party members to work in unity to ensure the success of the party at the poll.
Ganduje made this known in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital on Friday while inaugurating the National APC campaign Council for the party’s governorship candidate for November 11 election in the state, chaired by the governor of Gombe State, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya.
He said party’s governorship candidate for the election, Chief Timipre Sylva, as a former governor and minister, is conversant with the workings of government and will be able to offer the state the needed leadership and bring about development in the state.
He urged the campaign council to be disciplined and focused to win the election and ensure that Bayelsa is govern by APC after the election.
He said: “Our candidate, was a former governor of Bayelsa state for one term, but he was not given the chance in the nomination not that he was defeated, he was minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and therefore, being a governor before, being a minister before, he has now identified a six point agenda for the development of Bayelsa State. He has been able to produce a blueprint for this agenda, he has been able to develop a strategy for the implementation of the blueprint, he is conversant with the workings of the Federal Government, he is conversant with the workings of the state government, so he will be able to build a synergy between the Federal Government and the Bayelsa State government so that he can take this state to a much higher level.
“We have to believe in him, he has knowledge, he knows the environment, he knows the character and the implementors, therefore he knows how to coordinate for his six-point agenda.
“Our national campaign council, we have carefully selected competent people, with vast experience, who know what it takes to win election. To win election, you need to be proactive, you need to be organized, you need to be disciplined, you need to follow the electoral laws, you need to know the security issues, you need to know how to monitor and how to administer voting system, so that you don’t give room that you are rigged out, you must invigilate, you must supervise, in election day, you must be up and down, put your ears and nose in the polling units.
“The team that we have put together, that will work with the local team in Bayelsa will be able to win the election, come November 11,” he said.
Chairman of APC National Campaign Council and governor of Gombe State, Mohammad Inuwa Yahaya, expressed hope that with the calibre of persons in the campaign council and the massive supports the party has received from the people of Bayelsa State, the election will be easy ride for APC and its candidate, Timipre Sylva.
He said: “As we came into Bayelsa State, we saw things for ourselves, our party and the candidate are really on ground, when we saw a very high influx of personalities coming into the party, even from the sitting government and other parties, we really have peace of mind that our party is heading for success.
“With the calibre of personalities in the campaign team, I believe by the grace of God, we will deliver Sylva into the Government House in Yenagoa. We will work assiduously and deliver him whatever it takes.
“But for us to succeed, I call on all party men and women, committee members to join hands, because there is strength in unity, we should never go with a divided house, what we saw on the ground already, with a little effort, we will unseat the PDP government and to do that, we must work hard,” he said.
The governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, promised to return the state to the path of progress and development, using his six-point agenda.
The entourage were earlier received at the secretariat of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council by its chairman, HRM King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpatiama Kingdom and other traditional rulers where he advised the APC Governorship election Campaign Council, led by the national chairman of APC, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, that as traditional rulers, they are neutral and called on all parties to adhere strictly to the rules of the game, by ensuring that the campaigns and elections were devoid of rancour and intimidation.
