Chief Sylva, the former governor, was involved in a head-to-head gubernatorial race with incumbent governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party in the December 5 election. Due to the high number of instances of electoral malpractices, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) declared the poll inconclusive and intends holding supplementary elections in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
Governor Dickson has taken a commanding lead in the results declared so far but Chief Sylva still has an outside chance of winning if he sweeps the supplementary poll. Since the elections were declared inconclusive by Inec, Chief Sylva has made several attempts to meet with President Buhari but all such entreaties have been rebuffed.
One presidency source said that President Buhari was not happy with the APC in Bayelsa and with Chief Sylva over alleged pockets of violence in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. According to election observers, several local APC leaders deployed thugs to intimidate people and try and influence the outcome of the election.
"Mr President is angry over the overwhelming criticism and condemnation of the process by international observers, who did not mince words in describing the poll as a rape of democracy. Some of the observers are already seeing the APC-led federal government as lacking the capacity to conduct a free, fair and credible election in a state as small as Bayelsa.
"What happened in Southern Ijaw was against every acceptable global democratic norm and practice,” the source added.
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