- Leave Diri out of your travails – PDP
Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Bayelsa State chapter has raised alarm over an alleged plot by the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, to frame up the APC candidate in the last governorship election in the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
APC said Diri and his cohorts intended to make Sylva look guilty of crimes he had not committed on purpose to distract and dissuade him from effectively pursuing his petition at the state governorship election tribunal against Diri’s declaration as governor-elect.
The party’s publicity secretary, Mr Doifie Buokoribo said the party has it on goof authority that Diri has instigated EFCC officials on a fishing expedition to initiate arrest and prosecution against Sylva on trumped up charges, particularly, bordering on his tour of duty as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
“This is all in a bid to distract the APC candidate, and hinder effective pursuit of his petition at the State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
“Senator Diri knows full well that he did not win the November 11 governorship poll; he knows without a doubt that he is holding a stolen mandate that would soon revert to the rightful owner.
“Chief Timipre Sylva and APC trust the capacity of the judiciary to do justice in the Bayelsa State governorship election litigation.
“APC would like to use this medium to warn Diri and PDP to desist from their conspiratorial activities against Sylva at the EFCC. We also wish to advise the EFCC to resist any temptation to get entangled in the political chicanery of the sinking governor and his party.”
However, the PDP in a swift reaction by its publicity secretary, Ebiye Ogoli has urged Sylva to leave Diri and the PDP out of his alleged corruption travails.
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.
According to him 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 judged 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.
“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.’’