The All Progressives Congress (APC) Candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva and his wife successfully did their accreditation at the polo open polling unit ward 4 Okpoama Brass at about 11:40 am.
Tag: Timipre Sylva
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Dickson will lose in Bayelsa poll, pollster insists
… Survey a fraud – PDP
Pollster, an Election Frontline (EF), on Monday described as unfortunate an attempt by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to fault its survey on the December 5 governorship election in the state.
EF had predicted landslide victory for the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the poll, Chief Timipre Sylva.
The EF in a statement signed by its Survey Administrator, Macpepple Joshua, said the claim by the governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the survey was sponsored by the APC was far from the truth.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Election Frontline is not a political NGO and our members remain non-partisan. The reaction by the PDP also said we conducted a similar survey predicting victory for Chief Sylva when he contested the Bayelsa East Senatorial election against Senator Ben Murray-Bruce of the PDP in the last April general election.
“This is a blatant lie and false as Election Frontline never carried out a survey on that particular election. If the PDP government has an evidence, it should be made public. For clarification, our NGO has no affiliation to the All Progressives Congress and as a matter of fact with any political parties,” it said.
The EF added that in the survey, it clearly recognized that the PDP was still very rooted in Bayelsa State being a party that had been in power since 1999.
But it said the findings of the survey, however, said the election would not be decided based on the strength of the various political parties but on certain ingredients of democratic principles bothering on the socio-economic development of the people.
It said: “We, hereby, stand by the result of our survey and that even staff in the Bayelsa State Government House including attached security men will rather vote for the APC than returning the incumbent Governor, who has impoverished them with no cut-out welfare package for them.
“The survey conducted in the eight local government areas of the state with 1,000 respondents revealed that majority of the people would vote the APC just to oust the incumbent Governor, Seriake Dickson of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for his alleged poor economic policies.
“In the analysis of the data generated from the field, the election is clearly being contested by three candidates, described as serious minded candidates.
“They are the incumbent, Seriake Dickson of the PDP, who is seeking re-election, former Governor, Timipre Sylva of the APC and the 35-year old young entrepreneur, Moses Siloko Siasia of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).”
But the PDP again, discredited the polling firm and still claimed it was sponsored by APC.
The party through the Director of Publicity of the Restoration Campaign Organisation (RCO), Jonathan Obuebite, described EF as an “emergency polling firm” with no track record of having conducted any election survey anywhere.
Obuebite said the whole efforts by the firm were nothing but a fraud.
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Money laundering: Court dismisses charges against Sylva
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday dismissed the new 50- count charge of money laundering brought against the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva and some others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge while ruling on the preliminary objection filed by Sylva and two others, held that his court was without the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the charge, which he said was an abuse of court process.
Justice Ademola said since one of two similar charges earlier filed by the EFCC against Sylva and others had been dismissed and the other struck out, the EFCC’s decision to consolidate the earlier two charges in the new one showed desperation to convict the accused persons at all cost.
The EFCC filed the fresh 50-count charge on June 12 this year shortly after Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, dismissed an earlier charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/167 which the commission filed against Sylva and others.
Also, Justice Evoh Chukwu of the same court struck out another charge filed against the ex-governor.
The new charge had Sylva, Francis Okokuro, Gbenga Balogun, Samuel Ogbuku, Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited and Haloween-Blue Construction and Logistics Limited as defendants.
They were accused of using the companies to launder about N19.2bn from Bayelsa State coffers between 2009 and 2012, under false pretences of using the withdrawn money to augment salaries of the state government.
Justice Ademola noted that since a judge of the court (Justice Mohammed) had dismissed a similar charge, the only option for the prosecution was to appeal the decisions rather than bringing a fresh charge containing the same facts and on the same issues before his court.
“The ruling of my brother Justice A. R. Mohammed dismissing the earlier charge still subsists. That ruling ended the jurisdiction of this court, until it is set aside by a superior court, this court lacks the jurisdiction to hear this charge.
“It is the court’s opinion that this criminal charge is a complete abuse of the process of this court. It shows evidence of malice and desperation to perverse the process of court,” the judge ruled.
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PDP thugs attacked, killed, our members – Bayelsa APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Bayelsa State chapter, Friday, raised the alarm over the attacks on its members at communities in Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw local government areas of the state by thugs it identified as members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The party, in a statement signed by the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO) said the wave of attacks sweeping across the state left of its members, Mr. Andrew June, dead.
SICO’s Director, Media and Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba, said June was murdered at Oweigbene community in Ekeremor when suspected PDP thugs ambushed members of the APC.
Egba said the thugs also went on rampage in Otuan community ward 5 in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area destroying buildings belonging to APC members and all other APC campaign banners and billboards.
He said the destruction was carried out as part of preparations for the visit of the PDP candidate and the Governor of the state, Mr.Seriake Dickson, for his campaign rally.
He said: “This unwarranted attack is coming on the heels of warning by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to deal with anyone who perpetrates violence and violates electoral laws during the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.
“Mr. Andrew June, an APC stalwart in Oweigbene community was murdered by a mob of PDP supporters alleged to have been sponsored by a PDP chieftain.
“The deceased, Mr. June and several APC supporters who sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of the attack were ambushed at Toru-gbene community en route Oweigbene after the APC rally in Ekeremor town, Ekeremor Local Government Area on Wednesday, 18th November, 2015.
“The deceased and other APC supporters sustained injuries from machetes cut and were rushed to Ojobo General Hospital in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, where Mr. June later died.
“The injured APC members are still receiving treatment in different hospitals in the area while the remains of the deceased have been deposited in a mortuary at Oporo.”
He said in Otuan, the thugs were allegedly led by two serving Special Advisers to Governor Dickson, and members of the Bayelsa Volunteers Force (BVF) to unleash terror on innocent APC members.
According to him a well-known member of BVF reportedly brought in thugs from outside Otuan community while one of the thugs reportedly chopped-off the ear of an APC supporter during an inspection tour of damaged APC campaign materials.
“The attack continued later in the evening of Thursday, 19th November till the morning of Friday, November, 20th, 2015 as PDP supporters kept shooting sporadically to intimidate and scare APC supporters.
“Residents of Otuan community, a strong-hold of the APC have now deserted the community as people had to run for their lives.
“Already, the leader of the party in Otuan ward 5, Prince Coronation Tokpo, forwarded a petition on the incident to the Commissioner of Police to investigate the provocative attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“We call on Governor Seriake Dickson to respect the peace accord he signed by calling his supporters to order to avoid further blood-shed.
“Bayelsans could now confirm the party and candidate that is violent and desperate to use force in a bid to win the election at all cost.
“The Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, was billed to tour communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in continuation of his campaign before the reported attack on the members,” he said.
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We are committed to free, fair election, says Dickson
The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has assured the international community of his administration’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful election in the state on December 5.
The governor who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election spoke on Thursday when the US Consul-General in Nigeria, John Bray, visited him to discuss issues bordering on the poll.
Dickson said as part of his preparations for the election, he was on a campaign and sensitisation tour of communities across the state.
The governor said he was also using the opportunity to educate the people on the essence of a violence-free election, describing himself as an advocate of free, fair and credible polls.
He accused the opposition of boasting to use federal might and other various agencies of government to rig the poll.
He further claimed that the opposition was using intimidation and threats of violence to scare the electorates.
Dickson warned anti-democratic forces against destabilising the state, stressing that, Bayelsans would resist any attempt to sabotage the forthcoming poll.
He called on security forces to take appropriate action against persons involved in any form anti democratic ctivities during the period.
He said: “My duty is to sensitise the people on their rights and I have been going round to sensitise the people, not to be involved in violence, not to be intimidated, turnout en masse and vote massively for the PDP, because we are a peaceful party as against the opposition that is known for violence.
“Our government is known for stability, peaceful co-existence, the protection of the democratic rights of the citizens, observance of the rule of law, a record of performance, belief in the principles of free, fair and credible election which the is not known for.”
But Bray said he came to inform Dickson of US plans to send an observer mission to monitor the poll.
The consul-general also said he was in the Government House to share ideas with Dickson on how to conduct a free, fair and credible election.
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Bayelsa: APGA candidate campaigns for Sylva
The Bayelsa State candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the December 5 governorship poll, Chief Christopher Enai, Thursday, told the people that a former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, is the best out of all other contestants in the election.
Enai asked the people to return the state to the path of development insisting that only the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Sylva, have the template to develop the state.
Speaking in grand rally of the APC in Ekeremor Local Government Area, the APGA standard bearer said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had done disservice to the people by failing to develop the state in over 16 years.
He said with the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, from Ekeremor, the state would be better positioned for development if an APC government emerged on December 5.
“APC has a plan to develop this state. The party has given us a minister in charge of agriculture. The minister is from Ekeremor, my local government.
“What we need is an APC governor who will now work with our minister and the APC-led Federal Government to ensure total development of this state.”
lnsisting that the state could not afford to be in the opposition, Enai said it was the desire of the founding fathers of Bayelsa to always align with the centre.
Describing the Governor Seriake Dickson’s PDP-led government as wicked, backward and selfish, Enai said Sylva would bring prosperity, empowerment and development to the state.
“Since the beginning of this democratic dispensation, we have never been in the opposition. We can’t afford any opposition government now. It is time to align with the centre.
“Apart from that, we cannot afford to vote for Dickson and his PDP because they have entrenched poverty and underdevelopment. The only candidate we know and must vote for is Sylva.”
Also speaking, a PDP chieftain in the community, Mr. Kenneth Samuel, who led over 1000 defectors to APC said they were treated like slaves in their former party.
He said: “The APC has brought freedom to us. We are now free. We have come to vote and support the APC and Sylva.”
Addressing the enthused crowd, Sylva said the APC had come to end the era of poverty, hunger and hardship caused by PDP misrule.
“The new time for ‘jollification’, enjoyment and empowerment has come. This is the time for the development of this state,” he said.Referring to Lokpobiri as a minister in charge of food and rural development, he vowed to work with him to “abolish hunger in the land” if elected.
He said before the expiration of his tenure, if elected, he would ensure that the road linking their community from Sagbama is completed.
“I will not do 419 because some people are trying to do 419 with that road. I will also truly empower Ekeremor,” he said.
He derided Governor Seriake Dickson for indiscriminately sharing appointment letters to people in the twilight of his administration.
He said the governor’s strategy of issuing appointments letters without salaries and offices to lure people to vote for him, again was deceitful.
“Dickson has appointment letters in his pockets and he is now selling and hawking senior special assistant appointments without offices and salaries. It is a government of 419 and it will be over on December 5,” he said.
Sylva promised to improve on the road he constructed in the community describing Ekeremor as one of the largest communities in the state.
“Consider me as a son of Ekeremor because l have friends who are dear to me from here. It is time for you to effect the change because we cannot continue to cry. It is a new day and a new song,” he said.
Also speaking, Lokpobiri told his people that they were indebted to Sylva and the APC and urged them to pay the debt on December 5.
He said Dickson had only two months to vacate the Government House noting that he could not bring the governor to campaign in the community in 2012 because he knew him as a liar.
He recalled that when Dickson campaigned in 2012, he promised to drive to the community to seek second term in office.
“He has deceived you because he could not build the road he promised,” he said.
Receiving the defectors, the state Chairman of the party, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe, asked the people to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) ready to change Dickson to Sylva.
While he was speaking, the people roared that they would never vote for Dickson and PDP again.
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Bayelsa poll: Senior INEC official working for PDP – Sylva
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 governorship election, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Sunday alleged that a senior member of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state is an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking through his campaign team, Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO), the former governor said he had been inundated with calls about a particular member of the commission who is sympathetic to the aspirations of PDP.
SICO in a statement signed by its Publicity Director, Chief Nathan Egba, said the INEC official whose name was not mentioned worked closely with the appointees of the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, in the last National Assembly and House of Assembly elections.
Egba said: “We have been inundated with calls and reports about a particular senior member of the commission in the state headquarters who is a PDP agent because of the role he played in the last Presidential, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections by working closely with appointees of Governor Dickson.”
He also asked INEC to follow the laid down rules in the accreditation of election monitors and observers for the election.
He added: “This is coming on the heels of the purported public endorsement of Governor Seriake Dickson of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for another term by over 400 Non-Governmental Organisations in the state.
“We urge INEC to be wary of such NGOs that had become political and publicly identify with a particular candidate in the election.
“The APC had obtained the comprehensive list of the NGOs and called on INEC not to make mistake in considering applications from any of their members to serve as either monitors or observers in the December 5 election.
“While our campaign organisation is irrevocably committed to ensuring peaceful and credible poll, the electoral body must also purge some of its staff and personnel who are believed to be showing sympathy to the ruling party in the state.”
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‘Dickson won’t escape defeat in guber poll’
Former acting Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Nestor Binabo, on Friday said the incumbent Governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Seriake Dickson, “would be roundly” defeated in the December 5 governorship election in the state.
Binabo, a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, said the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, is more popular and has a better appeal than the incumbent governor.
He said Dickson mortgaged his goodwill through his selfish tendencies, inhuman policies and failing to fulfill the fundamental functions of the government.
According to him, every government aspires to balance social welfare of the people with capital projects in the spirits of socio-capitalist economy practiced in the country.
He said Dickson’s administration was a total failure for its inability to deliver on capital and social components of a performing government.
Binabo, in a press briefing in Yenagoa, the state capital, observed that Dickson, at the inception of his government, declared a state of emergency in education.
But, he said, the administration failed to fulfill most of the components of the emergency, adding that the educational system had become worse than it was in the past administration.
Insisting that the educational sector in the state was sick under Dickson, the former speaker lamented that the government abandoned most of the rehabilitation and reconstruction projects it started in schools.
He said it was a policy somersault for a government which declared emergency in education to allow the only state-owned university, the Niger Delta University (NDU) to decay.
“This government has added no value to the only state-owned university, the NDU. The development of that school stopped with Sylva. After Sylva, the school has been suffering from infrastructural and academic decay.
“Imagine that courses that were accredited during Sylva’s administration have been de-accredited. The school is begging for help. Instead of investing in the school, what the government did was to increase school fees without recourse to the poverty level of the people.
“Besides, this is a government that has failed to pay bursaries to students. So, everybody especially the students are suffering. How can a governor expect people he has impoverished to vote for him a second term? Any vote for Dickson, is a vote for entrenched poverty.”
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Sylva to Dickson: Go with your wicked policies
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5 election in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Thursday asked the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to pack his belongings and get ready to quit the Government House.
Sylva lambasted Dickson, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the election and described his policies and programmes as anti-people, wicked and painful.
The former Governor, who spoke through his campaign outfit, Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO), said Dickson, in the last three years introduced unpopular initiatives to inflict pains on the citizens.
Sylva in a statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity, SICO, Chief Nathan Egba, said Dickson kept his promise to deliberately impoverish the people.
He said: “It will be recalled that Governor Dickson had boasted that none of his appointees, particularly the commissioners and special advisers would become millionaires under his government.
“Dickson went further to introduce policies that have crippled businesses of Bayelsans in private enterprises so as to ensure that there would be nobody financially strong enough to challenge him in the coming election.
“The civil servants are worst hit as the outgoing Dickson’s administration introduced a draconian regime through multiple taxation to shortchange them and take part of their meager salaries through the back door to keep them in perpetual poverty.
“It is on record that Governor Dickson also starved the entire civil service of funds for the day-to-day running of government business as well as deny civil servants of promotion on the excuse of lack of money to pay them on the next salary grade.”
Sylva said it was against all known public service norms for a political appointee to practically take over all functions of the office of the Accountant-General of the state.
He said Dickson was running an administration that was solely operated by his cronies and clearly not civil servants friendly.
He also accused the governor of inflicting pains on pensioners in the state by not paying their entitlements for months.
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Oshiomhole vows to work for Sylva’s victory in Bayelsa poll
The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has vowed to work for the victory of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the December 5 election in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Oshiomhole spoke while presiding over a meeting of the APC campaign council for the Bayelsa State governorship election at the Sokoto Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, Tuesday.
His speech put paid to speculations that he opted out as the chairman of the campaign council following his altercation with Sylva over the governorship primary in Bayelsa.
The Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF), a group supporting the Bayelsa State governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr.Seriake Dickson, recently hailed Oshiomhole for reportedly rejecting the oppurtunity to lead the ex-governor’s campaign team.
But Oshiomhole said he never turned down the offer and insisted that the Bayelsa poll was very significant to the APC.
The Edo governor said he could not attend the council’s inauguration and its inaugural meeting because of communication gaps.
Oshiomhole, who spoke to reporters shortly after presiding over a brief session of the APC campaign council, praised the party for assembling a team of committed party men and women to support the governorship candidate.
He said: “I would have been here for the inauguration as well as the first meeting of the campaign council but for communication challenges, I did not get the information on time.
“But the truth is that every party man has a duty to project the APC, the governorship candidate and our manifestoes to the people of Bayelsa State as we go in for the election.
“This election is very crucial to us and all legitimate means allowed within the ambit of the law will be explored to ensure that we win. It is very significant to us as a party.”