The race for Creek Haven, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has begun in earnest and it is likely to be a two horse race between Senator Heineken Lokpobiri of the APC and a yet-to-be anointed candidate of Governor Seriake Dickson of the PDP.
The front-runners in the Peoples Democratic Party are Chief Ndutimi Alaibe and Dr Godknows Igali, a former Federal Permanent Secretary.
Feelers from sources at Government House Yenagoa indicate that a shocker awaits Timi Alaibe and Dr Igali as Governor Dickson is keeping his choice candidate close to his chest.
“Governor Dickson is shopping for a candidate he can trust and confide in. Alaibe and Igali are too independent minded to do his (Dickson’s) bidding.
“He will shock Bayelsans when the time comes by throwing up a green horn,” the source said.
Already there are feelers in the Timi Alaibe camp that in the event of his rejection by Governor Dickson, he may opt for either the Accord Party or Labour Party.
In the APC, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, until last week the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, has received the endorsement of elders of the party, including former Governor Timipre Sylva, the leader of the APC in Bayelsa.
Sources say that Sylva has given Lokpobiri the nod to go for the top job.
Already, Lokpobiri has appointed Hon. Warman Weri Ogoriba as the campaign Director General and Ambassador Felix Oboro as the Deputy Director General and Chairman, Elders Council of the Heineken Lokpobiri Campaign Organisation, in readiness for the flag off of his campaigns.
According to Lokpobiri, the decision to contest the Bayelsa governorship election was borne out of his desire to rescue the state from obvious misrule by those entrusted with the commonwealth of the people in recent dispensations.