Diri, Sylva Trade Words Over Alleged Hiring Of Spies

Bayelsa State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, has accused Governor Douye Diri of recruiting spies to monitor his movement.

Sylva in a statement yesterday, said credible intelligence available to him, indicated that the spies operating across the state, especially the Bayelsa International Cargo Airport, were asked to document and report his movements in the state to some off-grid security architecture.

But in a swift reaction, Diri’s chief press secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah said the state governor, is a well-known pacifist and an advocate of politics without bitterness, adding that he would not spill blood to get re-elected into office.

Alabrah said the former governor is good at crying wolf where there is none, adding that he believes Sylva is the one planning what he is accusing the governor of, going by his antecedents.

Sylva claimed the spy activities were being coordinated by a close security aide of the governor with the aim of compromising his convoy.

He called on security agencies and members of the public to take note of Diri’s strategy of violence against him and the people of Bayelsa with special focus on Opu-Nembe.

He said any serving governor hoping for reelection adopts the strategy of commissioning and inaugurating projects to convince the people but that Diri has resorted to desperation, violence and underhand practices following his failure in office.

“Sylva’s push to Creek Haven is an act of liberation and Bayelsans are massively aligned. The change is soon, the change is inevitable and the soul of Bayelsa State will be salvaged from the jaws of characters whose futile way of masking their inefficiency is violence,” he said.

Countering Sylva’s claims, Alabrah said, “It is on record that for the first time in the history of elections in Bayelsa State, the February/March general election in the country was so peaceful in the state that there were no reported cases of bloodshed and killings unlike in the past. This was due to the governor’s peaceful disposition that has permeated the politics of the state.

“Chief Sylva is good at crying wolf where there is none. Going by his antecedents, we believe he is the one planning what he is accusing the governor of. But it is better to ignore the rantings of a drowning man seeking straws to hang on to or trying to make excuses for his failed governorship project. His rejection by his party chieftains, his Nembe/Brass people and indeed the Bayelsa electorate is total.”