Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are in verbal war over the N2.9 billion car loan approved by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly for Governor Douye Diri, his deputy and other top government functionaries to procure operational vehicles.

The Assembly, at its plenary presided over by Speaker Abraham Inogbere, approved the loan with a repayment plan spanning 36 months.

APC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Doifie Buokoribo, said the decision of the new government to take the loan is a confirmation that Diri’s administration is a continuity of the “regime of lawlessness and grand larceny.”

Buokoribo, who expressed sadness over the Assembly approval of the loan, said it was ‘scandalous, unsympathetic and ungodly’.

“Diri is taking a loan at a time when civil servants and pensioners in the state have not been paid. This is a continuation of the frivolities of the PDP government of Dickson; a major reason the people of the state roundly rejected them at the poll.

“Unfortunately, Bayelsa State is in for another long haul under an illegitimate regime that does not feel any sense of commitment to the welfare and sensibilities of the people. This cannot be the government that the people of Bayelsa State deserve. It cannot be the government the people voted for,” he said.

However, PDP, in response by its Publicity Secretary, Osom Mackbere, accused APC of engaging in a cheap blackmail.

Mackbere, who accused the APC of obtaining N8 billion ahead of the botched inauguration of David Lyon, expressed sadness that the party cannot muster the necessary integrity to play opposition.

“On the allegation that Governor Diri collected N2.9 billion loan to purchase cars for top government functionaries, our response is that this is a very cheap and unintelligible blackmail.

“It is more laughable when you recall that the APC while waiting to be sworn in the state had already taken N8 billion loan, with which it purchased cars for persons not yet accorded official portfolios.

“Sadly, the APC and its structure always look puerile in their role as an opposition party and this call for deep concern,” the PDP said.