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Tag: Timipre Sylva

  • APC members were attacked, injured -Sylva

    The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Wednesday insisted that members of the party were attacked and injured by thugs suspected to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The candidate through his campaign outfit, Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO) asked the police in the state to investigate the development and arrest persons who carried out the attack.

    The Director, SICO, Chief Nathan Egba, in a statement in Yenagoa said the victims’ only offence was that they helped the state government to clear the capital city of refuse.

    He said: “We call on the state Commissioner of Police to bring to book those PDP thugs who attacked and injured about four APC women and a driver of one of the evacuating trucks at Amarata and Tombia areas of Yenagoa, with one of the trucks set ablaze and another’s windscreen smashed.

    “The Women and Youth wings of the Campaign Organization were on a rescue mission to help the PDP-led administration perform one if its statutory functions of clearing refuse at various dump sites when they were attacked.

    “It is, therefore, unacceptable that apart from attacking the women, the PDP thugs burnt down one of our trucks at the Tombia dump site and smashed the windscreen of another truck at Amarata area of Yenagoa.

    “It is regrettable that the Bayelsa State Government that should ordinarily protect its people had turned out to unleash terror on the citizens, because of the desperation of Governor Seriake Dickson to secure second term in office, which has clearly become a mirage.

    While sympathising with persons injured in the attack, Egba assured them of the party’s commitment to ensuring that they receive the best medical treatment.

     

  • Sylva running mate’s mother abducted

    There was outrage in Bayelsa State following the abduction of Madam Ebifeghe Dikoro, 100 years old mother of Chief Wilberforce Igiri, the running mate to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva.
    Details later…

  • PDP mocks APC candidates for Kogi, Bayelsa polls

    PDP mocks APC candidates for Kogi, Bayelsa polls

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has resorted to mocking the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Kogi and Bayelsa states in the upcoming governorship election in the two states.

    In a statement issued on Monday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP called on Nigerians to note the “corruption credentials” of the two APC candidates.

    A former governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu and another former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, are the APC candidates for the elections, slated for November 21 and December 5 respectively.

    The PDP described as “shameful irony and display of crass hypocrisy,” the fact that a ruling party that prides itself as an anti-corruption crusader, would field candidates being held on corruption charges, saying such has further exposed the insincerity of the APC.

    The statement said, “It is a mockery of strategy that the APC which has been touting the fight against corruption as its major policy, would present to the people of the two states, candidates whose public questionable credentials are further evidenced in the charges brought against them by anti-graft agencies.

    “In Kogi, we have the APC brazenly fielding, for the November 21 governorship election, Prince Abubakar Audu, a former governor of the state that was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption, and who is now facing charges before the court, of breach of trust, embezzling and misappropriating the sum of N10.9 billion meant for the development of his state.

    “In the same vein, in Bayelsa State, the APC is fielding, for the December 5 election, Chief Timipre Sylva, also a former governor of the state, who is similarly before the court on charges of embezzlement of a staggering sum of N19.2 billion belonging to Bayelsa State.

    “This APC candidate in Bayelsa is being charged by the EFCC for embezzling funds meant for state workers for a period four years, ‘under false pretence’ of using the funds to augment their salaries.

    “Now that the APC is brazenly fielding candidates with questions of corruption, we ask, do they in all honesty expect Nigerians to take them seriously on their much-hyped anti-corruption crusade?

    “Does the APC expect the people of Kogi and Bayelsa States to be fooled into voting for the same individuals who are facing charges of looting funds meant for the development of their respective states?”

  • Federal might won’t deliver Sylva’

    A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief Richard Kpodo, on Monday warned that federal might would not deliver the party’s candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, in the December 5 governorship election.

    Speaking at a news conference in Yenagoa, Kpodo, a former Chairman of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (NPDP), said that Sylva allegedly subverted the rules of the APC to become the party’s flagbearer.

    He implored President Muhammadu Buhari to keep to his promise of changing the old ways of doing things and enforce the desired change Nigerians yearn for in the interest of justice and fair play.

    Kpodo claimed that Sylva’s emergence would spell doom for the APC, saying the primary that produced the ex-governor was a charade.

    He said: “Though President Muhammadu Buhari, in his Independence Day nationwide broadcast declared that Nigerians should depart from their old ways and characters, the fraud perpetrated during the charade called primary election in Bayelsa APC was the old electoral way of ‘defrauding’ the people.

    “If the APC, Timipre Sylva and his cohorts in Abuja believe that the plot to deploy the federal might against the people of the state will deliver Sylva from failure, they are wrong.

    “The people of the state watched with renewed interest as Sylva’s fraud was executed. And they are ready to show the APC that such fraudulent change is not needed in Bayelsa. Instead, they may continue supporting the current administration in place.

    “For the Bayelsa APC to get it right, the time for the change is now. And it must start with the cancellation of the fraudulent primary conducted by Sylva and his boys.”

    Kpodo alleged that Sylva and his gang of politicians, within and outside the state, thwarted the decision of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on the conduct of a free, fair and credible primary.

    He claimed that Sylva hijacked the process from Abuja by selecting members of the Election Committee led by Brig.-Gen Monsur Dan-Ali.

    He said that Sylva came into the state at about 11:00pm in company with the Electoral Committee members and hid them in an undisclosed area to do his bidding at a venue not known to members, particularly aspirants.

    Kpodo commended the three governorship aspirants who stood up and protested against the primary and applauded their decision to head for court to seek redress.

     

  • PDP, Sylva trade words ahead of Bayelsa poll

    PDP, Sylva trade words ahead of Bayelsa poll

    … Sylva not electable – Party

    … Dickson will soon be history – Ex-governor

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bayelsa State chapter, and the Campaign Organisation of Timipre Sylva, on Friday attacked each other verbally over the candidacy of the All Progressive Congress (APC) flag bearer for the December 5 governorship election.

    Sylva, who emerged the APC candidate, will slug it out with the sole candidate of the PDP and incumbent state Governor, Seriake Dickson.

    But the PDP said Sylva is not electable.

    The state Secretary of PDP, Keku Godspower, in a statement in Yenagoa on Friday, said the emergence of Sylva was a shame and insult to the collective sensibilities of people of Bayelsa and APC members.

    Keku said APC’s decision was an indication that it was not prepared for any serious outing in the election because “everybody in Bayelsa knows that Sylva is not electable.”

    He, however, claimed that since Sylva’s emergence, there was palpable fear, tension and apprehension among people of Bayelsa following the violence that marred the recent APC primary in the state.

    Keku also alleged that Sylva had a record of violence and that his second coming would not be different.

    He alleged that since the primary, the state had witnessed the influx of cultists and militants.

    He added that the development, if not checked, could lead to relapse of violence in the state and the entire Niger Delta region.

    Keku, however, said he was confident that possible violence would be contained by security agencies, assuring the people that the state would deal with anyone caught breaching the peace or molesting anyone.

    He advised Bayelsans to go about their lawful businesses without fear of intimidation, urging them to report any suspicious character to security agencies.

    He asked the people to vote for PDP and also called on the Federal Government to direct its security agencies to take urgent steps to ensure the security of lives and property in the state.

    But Sylva’s campaign organisation in a statement signed by Doifie Buokoribo, said the PDP was jittery because its candidate, Dickson, would soon become history.

    He said: “We know the PDP game plan was to prevent the emergence of a strong and popular APC governorship candidate so that they can easily repeat their trademark shenanigan of aborting democratic competition and stealing victory without a contest.

    “With that deception, they stole the mandate of the people in 2011, when both Chief Timipre Sylva and Mr. Ndutimi Alaibe were dubiously excluded just to give Hon. Henry Dickson victory without a real electoral contest.

    “All the frenzied disparagement of Sylva now by PDP is an understandable manifestation of fear and frustration over their impending, indubitable defeat at the December 5 election. That frenzy is understandable. We will make Dickson history.”

  • Bayelsa: Sylva’s emergence a joke – Oshiomhole

    Bayelsa: Sylva’s emergence a joke – Oshiomhole

    Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has described the reported emergence of former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, as the All Progressive Congress gubernatorial candidate in the state as a “huge joke.”

    Oshiomhole was the Chairman of an electoral committee set up by the national leadership of APC to conduct the governorship primaries in Bayelsa State.

    The governor said Sylva was not declared winner of the primaries, hence no Certificate of Return was issued to him.

    Speaking to reporters in Benin City, Oshiomhole said the purported emergence of Sylva would not alter the rules of the party.

    He stated that other aspirants agreed to follow the guidelines released by the national leadership of the party, but Sylva insisted that the primaries should be conducted without accreditation.

    He said Sylva insisted that it was wrong for the national Secretariat to conduct the primaries and that it was the function of the party leadership in the state.

    Oshiomhole said,”By the way Sylva conducted himself, it shows that he does not have faith in this democratic process. Sylva insisted that he founded APC in Bayelsa State and therefore he cannot understand why people who didn’t fund the party have this right to contest on the platform of the party.”

    “The reported election of Sylva is a joke because I am the returning officer in that primaries and which is why I function as the Chairman of the Election Committee. The next person is the Secretary. Neither the Secretary nor myself announced any result. It is customary that when election is conducted, the winner of the election is issued a Certificate of Return. As far as I know no such certificate was issued.”

    “If a member of the committee purport they are now selling results, that is their funeral. That does not in any way alter the rules of the party. Sylva can declare himself but none of this can substitute for due process which the party is committed to. Anybody who wanted to do a shoddy job will not ask people like me to be part of that exercise because I cannot be used for fraud.”

    “The committee was virtually held hostage including my humble self. These thugs were supervised by one of the aspirants, Mr. Timipre Sylva. Sylvia said to my face that we cannot leave the venue of the exercise unless we carry out the exercise without accreditation as prescribed by the National Secretariat.”

    “Sylva told me that the committee will not leave unless we were ready to conduct the primaries without recourse to accreditation. I was not in a position to amend the guidelines nor was I ready to submit to intimidation.”

    “When it was clear that they had mobilized the thugs and the thugs in collaboration with the police took over the stadium, the police left the stadium open and it made the thugs gained access into the venue.

    “I have to call on Abuja to prevail on the JTF to provide me with security to leave the venue of the primaries. The thugs have effectively blocked the gate under the instructions of Sylva.”

  • Why l joined Bayelsa governorship race – Sylva

    Why l joined Bayelsa governorship race – Sylva

    Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, said he joined the December 5 governorship race to rescue the state from its “current” political confusion and economic hopelessness.

    Sylva in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, told his supporters to remain steadfast and focus on the goal of winning the governorship election in the state.

    The former governor spoke following the postponement of the All Progressive Congress governorship primary from September 19 to September 22.

    He said: “I appeal to all our supporters, delegates, and the entire APC family in Bayelsa State to stay focused, positive, and determined as we wait for the new date, September 22, fixed by the national headquarters of our great party for the primary election in the state.

    “My participation in the governorship race is borne out of a firm decision to help steer our state away from the current course of political confusion and economic hopelessness, and return it to the path of freedom, progress, and hope. The foundation upon which our founding fathers had agitated and won the struggle for a distinct political territory within Nigeria.

    [ad id=”403656″]”That resolve, having been backed by the popular opinion of our people, I assure you that we are on course. I have no doubt that come next Tuesday, I would emerge the candidate of our great party, APC, for the December 5 governorship election.

    “The primary election is just a process to our ultimate goal of retrieving our collective political destiny from the PDP grabbers, who have arrested the development of the state since 2012, and fulfilling it for the good of all.”

    Sylva, who is also the leader of APC in the state, further appealed for calm and understanding among APC members in state.

    He said: “We should de-emphasise the small differences that necessarily accompany primary elections like this and focus our attention on the big picture, the collective responsibility of rescuing our state from the stranglehold of a few intolerant despots masquerading as politicians in PDP. We will win.

    “Bayelsa must be free. Bayelsa must progress. Bayelsa must change with the wind of change blowing across the land.”

     

     

  • Sylva joins Bayelsa governorship race

    Sylva joins Bayelsa governorship race

    … Submits nomination form

    Former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timiprieye Silva, on Monday made a last minute entrance into the state governorship race when he submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms at the All Progressive Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja.

    There have been speculations about Silva’s interest in the race with many saying he is still undecided between the choice of contesting the APC primary or going for a national appointment.

    Addressing journalists after submitting his form, the former governor accused former president, Goodluck Jonathan of constituting himself into an opposition to his government since he was elected as governor of the state in 2007.

    He said despite the opposition from the Presidency, he was able to deliver some quality projects to the people of the state but were not consummated before he was ousted by “impunity and wickedness in high places.”

    Dickson said, “There is always a driving force behind an ambition. For me, it is very simple. I went into Bayelsa government house in 2007 under very difficult circumstances, having a central government that was interested in ousting me from day one.

    “If you noticed, from day one when I entered government house in 2007, the vice president as he then was, was the head of my opposition. When all the state apparatus is summoned to run you out of office, it was a very uphill task. But despite that, we were undaunted and we carried on.

    “I went into Bayelsa state at the height of the militancy problem and a few years into my government, I was able to design a strategy which I called the triple e- strategy that led to the end of militancy in the Niger Delta and I can single handedly take credit for that and even my opponents will not begrudge me on that.

    “I also went ahead to do a lot of roads. No other governor in the history of the state can say he has done more roads in Yenogoa city than I did. The senatorial roads leading to Okporoma, I started it and also started the road leading to Brass. In the area of power, what we did in power was seen by all.

    “As at 2012, we were poised to celebrate in 2013 one year of uninterrupted power supply in Yenogoa city, I had installed turbans and there is a turban that was 93 percent completed when I was ousted.

    “The outgoing government refused to commission it because they did not want me to take credit for it. I built a hospital that would have been one of the best in Nigeria and was to be commissioned in May 2012. The outgoing government has refused to go near that hospital since I was ousted.”

     

  • Judge reserves ruling on Sylva’s fresh charges

    Judge reserves ruling on Sylva’s fresh charges

    Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has reserved ruling on whether or not to try former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva and others based on a fresh 50-count charge brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The judge, after listening to parties’ arguments on the notices of preliminary objection raised by the accused persons, said they will be informed in August, during the court’s vacation, about the date fixed for ruling.

    Listed with Sylva in the charges are – Francis Okokuro, Gbenga Balogun, Samuel Ogbuku, Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited and Haloween-Blue Construction Logistics.

    Sylva and others are being accused in the fresh charges of using three companies – Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited, and Haloween-Blue Construction and Logistics Limited to move N19.2billion from Bayelsa State coffers between 2009 and 2012.

    They were said to have perpetrated the fraud under false pretence of using the withdrawn money to augment salaries of the state government workers.

    The EFCC had filed the fresh charges shortly after a judge of the same court, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling on June 10, dismissed an earlier charge brought against Sylva and other by the anti-corruption agency.

    Justice Mohammed held that the EFCC abused court process when it sought to maintain two similar charges against the accused persons.

  • Sylva withdraws petition against Murray-Bruce

    Sylva withdraws petition against Murray-Bruce

    A former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, has withdrawn his case against Senator Ben Murray-Bruce at the National and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yenagoa.

    Sylva contested the Bayelsa east senatorial election on April 8 on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) but lost to Murray-Bruce of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The former governor, however, protested the outcome of the election and later dragged the winner to the tribunal.

    But Mr. Sydney Ibanichuka, the lawyer to Sylva, was said to have withdrawn the matter on the directive of his client.

    Though no reason was given for the withdrawal, it was gathered that the move was done out of personal sacrifice and the need to maintain the peace in the Senatorial district.

    The lawyer was reported to have said: “Well, the reason for the withdrawal is best known to the petitioners but they have agreed to withdraw for the interest of peace in Bayelsa and Nigeria at large.”

    “I want to see the withdrawal as a personal sacrifice from their hearts. The petitioner had secured the tribunal’s order to inspect the election materials.

    “Also, he secured an order for forensic experts to examine the materials. They had a good case that bothers on irregularities in the election. The decision is a sacrifice.”

    At the hearing on Thursday in Yenagoa, the presiding Chairperson of the tribunal, Justice Ononeze Madu, said the tribunal was committed to ensuring justice and had accepted the decision of the petitioners.

    But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Justice Duro Adeyele, who is a lawyer to Murray-Bruce, said the action was in people’s interest.

    He said the matter was withdrawn after it had gone through the pre-hearing stage.

    Sylva in his petition asked the tribunal to declare that Murray-Bruce was not qualified to contest the election because of his dual citizenship.

    He further asked the court to declare him the winner of the election following alleged irregularities perpetrated by the PDP.