Fresh facts have emerged that the duo of the former Governor Timipre Sylva and the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, have disowned the campaigners of zoning of party positions during the ward, local government and state congresses of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state.
The new position, according to close aides to Sylva and Lokpobiri arose due to the controversy the adoption of zoning has caused within the party in the last few days.
Already, the duo of the APC acting chairman, Deacon Joseph Fafi, and the former acting Governor Nestor Binabo had rejected the zoning plan, insisting that the issue is not tenable.
But close aides to the party leaders, Chief Timipre Sylva and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri denied the acclaimed meeting where the issue of the purported zoning was decided.
According to the source, who does not want his name mentioned, though there were some party members pushing for zoning of the chairmanship position and some others, ” the two party leaders are on the same page on the issue of strong party structure with due respect to the resolutions last taken during the National Executive Committee of the party in Abuja.”
The source also hinted that the position of the Acting Chairman, Deacon Joseph Fafi is nowhere threaten by the reported restructure of the party ahead of the next elections.
“I think what the party leaders are trying to do is to search for more vibrant and purposeful party members to support the incumbent members of the State Executive committee. The SEC will be made up of more intellectuals and politicians.”
It would be recalled that the claim by some politicians in the state that the duo of Chief Timipre Sylva and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri had allegedly met and adopted zoning formulae for the coming ward, local and state Congresses of the party had thrown the party into controversy