Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, says he has told President Muhammadu Buhari that he would not want to return as a Minister in his cabinet.
Lokpibiri told Igbere TV that he had informed the President that he would contest the Bayelsa State governorship race instead.
According to him, he has learnt a lot under President Buhari and was eager to become Bayelsa governor to replicate all he had learnt.
His words, “I met the president a few days ago and I told him that I want to run for governorship in Bayelsa having thanked him for appointing me as a minister.
“I have learnt so much under him in the four years than what I learnt as a parliamentary for 12 years. I want to take that experience back home and see how we can build a Bayelsa beyond oil.
“Sylva is not my godfather. When I was speaker in 1999 he (Sylva) was special assistant to Alamieyeseigha. When I came to the Senate, he became governor.
“Yes, I must concede he came into APC and might have facilitated my appointment as minister but that does not make him my godfather. In 2007, when he got elected as governor, I got elected as Senator. In 2007, I was with Timi Alaibe and that was how I got the ticket.
“In 2011, we worked together even when former president Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson were fighting him. I worked for him and not Dickson.
“The APC governorship ticket would not divide us. As far as I am concerned, it is going to be a family affair. We might go into primaries and whoever wins would fly the party’s flag and I believe I am going to win,” he said.
