DAVID LYON PURCHASES THE N50M NOMINATION FORM FOR THE BAYELSA APC

David Lyon, a former candidate for governor of Bayelsa State, is the first candidate to pay N50 million to obtain the APC nomination and expression of interest forms.

The Bayelsa politician’s supporters demanded that the party’s leadership give him the right of first refusal in recognition of his prior electoral achievements rather than competing with other candidates for the one available ticket.

The change comes three years after the Supreme Court fired Lyon and his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo, on February 13.

Degi-Eremieoyo provided a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous ruling by a five-justice bench led by Justice Mary Odili.

The Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates for governor and deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri and Lawrence Ewhruojakpo, filed an appeal that resulted in the ruling.

On Friday, the first Secretary of the APC Bayelsa State, Merlin Daniel, spoke to journalists after his supporters arrived to pick up his forms at the party office in Abuja. He said that it was regrettable that the Bayelsa businessman had been denied the chance to save the state as governor.

The governorship primary election will take place on Monday, April 10, according to the APC, and the Congress will validate the results of the governorship primaries in Imo and Bayelsa on Tuesday, April 11.

On Wednesday, April 12, the appeals for the primary election come next.