Bayelsa: APC, PDP Clash Over Alleged Move To Arrest Sylva

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State claims to have discovered a scheme by Governor Douye Diri to falsely implicate Timipre Sylva, the party candidate in the last governorship election.

The party alleges that the plot involves using an anti-corruption agency to harass Sylva and pressure him to drop his legal challenge against the November 11 election results.

In response, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismisses the allegations as baseless, attributing them to the APC’s “post-election trauma” and accusing it of spreading misleading propaganda to deceive the people of Bayelsa.

Doifie Buokoribo, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Bayelsa, detailed the alleged plot in a statement on Monday.

He claimed that Governor Diri and his supporters aimed to falsely portray Sylva as a criminal, distracting him from pursuing his petition against Diri’s election as governor-elect at the state governorship election tribunal.

He alleged that the governor was mounting pressure on “Officials of the commission to initiate arrest and prosecution against him on trumped up charges, particularly, bordering on his (Sylva) tour of duty as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.”

In reaction to the allegation, the Publicity Secretary of PDP in the state, Ebiye Agu Ogoli, said, “We are at a loss as to the reasons for this latest senile vituperation thrown at our dear governor.

“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 travails (if any) and leave Governor Diri out of it.”