A former minister of state for petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.

Sylva, who was declared the winner at the weekend after the party’s primary election in all the 105 wards of the state defeated six others to clinch the party ticket. Declaring the results at the APC Secretariat in Yenagoa, the chairman of the APC electoral committee for the gubernatorial primary in the state, Maj. Gen. A.T Jubrin, said Sylva polled 52,061 votes to defeat his closest rival Joshua MacIver who got 2,078 votes.

He also said 142,031 was the total number of voters on the party’s register, while 58,121 voters were accredited to participated in the primary. Other scores include Chief David Lyon, 1591 votes, Chief Festus Daumiebi, 557, Ongoebi Etebu Maureen 1277 votes, Joshua Maciver, 2078 votes while Ogbomade Johnson had 584 votes. In his acceptance speech, Chief Timipre Sylva thanked stakeholders, members and all those who contested in the election for displaying discipline before, during and after the exercise, adding that the process to victory in the general election had just started.

Ada Peter