A leading pressure group in the South South region of Nigeria “Niger Delta Media Activists Group and Excellent Leadership Foundation” has accused the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri of working to destabilize the Bayelsa State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, an action capable of negatively impacting the party’s votes in the homogenous Ijaw State in the 2027 General elections.
The group’s allegation was contained in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by its National Coordinator, Chief Izzi Yakiah.
Chief Yakiah’s statement notes that since Senator Heineken Lokpobiri joined the party in 2015, his personal ambition has repeatedly run contrary to the overall interest and chances of the party.
The Group recalled that following the appointment of Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of State Agriculture few months after he joined the party, his only contribution to the party was to set up a parallel State APC secretariat in Yenagoa in May, 2019, when he formed a foundation to forcefully claim the leadership of the party in the State through subterfuge and fractionalization.
Chief Izzi Yakiah notes that the Minister’s history of factionalization of the party dates back to 2019 when he purportedly announced the installation of a certain Hon. Ebierein Fala Itubor as a factional State Chairman and further steps to legitimise this unconstitutional act with a parallel State Congresses which was rejected by the National Working Committee of the Com. Adams Oshiomole-led APC.
The negative anti-party trajectory of Sen. Lokpobiri continued when he instituted multiple court cases first to stop Chief David Lyon’s candidature in the 2019 Bayelsa State Governorship Election and secondly to upturn the victory of the 2019 APC Governorship candidate. After the 2021 APC Congresses, he also instituted a case through one Alex Blankson to dissolve the party’s executive from the 105 Wards, 8 Local Government’s and the State. That case is still pending at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The Minister has not participated in any party activity in the state including the last November Governorship campaigns till the day he was appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August, 2023 as Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil).
The Pressure group’s statement urges the Bayelsa APC leadership not to shift grounds over his suspension and other notable members of the party whose anti-party activities have almost brought the party to it’s knees adding that their years of anti party activities led to their suspension by the Ekeremor, Southern Ijaw, Sagbama and Yenagoa Local Government Areas APC Executives.
Chief Izzi Yakiah concluded by noting that this cleansing is necessary for committee members to heal and undertake proper rebuilding of the party towards the 2027 General Elections.
