The 2019 governor-elect, Chief David Pereworimini Lyon, and four other candidates were defeated in the All Progressives Congress, APC, gubernatorial primary by Chief Timipre Sylva, the recently-retired Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and former governor of Bayelsa State.
On Friday, the direct primary mode was used to hold the APC gubernatorial primaries in all 105 wards of the state.
Maj. Gen. A. T. Jibrin, ret., the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee and Returning Officer, announced the results at the state APC secretariat on Saturday. Jibrin said Sylva received a total of 52,061 votes to win; Chief Joshua Maciver, an ex-agitator, came in a distant second with 2,078 votes; and Chief David Lyon, the former Governor elect, came in third with 1,582 votes.