The Bayelsa State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) has advised the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded November 11 election to stop dragging the name of the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri into his corruption travails.
The party made this known in a statement it issued on Monday following allegations by the APC that Governor Diri and his party were working assiduously to frame Sylva up with corruption allegations.
The full statement reads:
The attention of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to a malicious publication to the effect that the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, and our party were engaging in a clandestine plot to frame up corruption allegations against the defeated All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The opposition party in the state, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, also claimed that the move was intended to frustrate Chief Sylva’s petition at the State Elections Petition Tribunal.
Reacting to the statement, the Bayelsa PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ebiye Agu Ogoli, said it is clear from the APC’s spurious allegations that the party was suffering from the November 11 post-election traumatic disorder and that its key leaders and officials deserve to be medically examined.
Ogoli said Sylva and the APC, having lost badly in the election, were engaging in another round of misleading and vexatious propaganda designed to hoodwink gullible Bayelsans.
He said: “Chief Timpre Sylva, as a bad loser, has refused to acknowledge and accept the outcome of the November 11 governorship election for what it is – a free, fair and transparent poll.
“The election was widely adjudged by various local and international observers as one of the cleanest in recent times conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, in which incumbent Governor Douye Diri was re-elected via a landslide.
“We are at a loss as to the reasons for this latest senile vituperation thrown at our dear Governor.
“May we remind Chief Sylva and his deceptive cohorts in his party that the EFCC is a federal anti-corruption organ that is not within the remit or under the control of Governor Diri.
“We maintain that the PDP or Senator Diri was never involved in the running of the office of the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and if there are issues arising therefrom, it is not the business of the State Governor or our Party. So, we advise Sylva to face his travail (if any) and leave Governor Diri out of it.
“We also wish to state that the mandate freely given to His Excellency Governor Douye Diri as expressed by the good people of Bayelsa State will stand and be validated at the end of the day.
“We call on Chief Sylva to join hands with other statesmen to support the re-elected Governor Diri towards consolidating on the achievements so far recorded, with focus on the next four years of Shared Prosperity.
Signed
Ebiye Agu Ogoli
PDP State Publicity Secretary
