Former Governor of Bayelsa State and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has faulted the incumbent Governor Douye Diri, over state of infrastructure and development in the State.
Chief Sylva claimed the governor didn’t know what to do with “the stolen mandate of APC in Bayelsa.”
Also, a former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Yekini Nabena, said APC has declared operation take-over Bayelsa, hence Governor Diri will be chased out to South Africa by the next governorship election.
Speaking Thursday at the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign rally in Yenagoa, Chief Timipre Sylva described the APC presidential candidate as the best among arrays of candidates jostling to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
The event was well-attended by the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC National Working Committee (NWC) members, other national leaders and supporters across the State.
According to Sylva, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very presidential, saying the candidate has a track record that nobody can beat.
“When they ask me why I am so sure that Tinubu is the best presidential candidate, I also ask them who is contesting with him because I don’t know.
“They say Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar but I told them that those people are no match for our candidate because we must look at their track records. What did Obi do in Anambra State when he was a governor?,” he said.
While commenting on the state of Bayelsa as the second poorest State in Nigeria, the Minister said the incumbent administration did not prepare for governance.
“Bayelsa is an APC State, although they stole the victory from us but you can see that they don’t even know what to do with it. Look at the state of Bayelsa State now. This State, according to National Statistics, it is the second poorest state in the whole of Nigeria.
“You can see why it is so. Can umbrella protect you from the flood? We had serious flooding in Bayelsa that affected every home and every family in the state. The state government had been warned about it for a long time that the flood was coming but they had no preparation for the flood.
“You can also see when you walk on the streets of Bayelsa, you can see that they were not even prepared but today I am not here to talk about Bayelsa State because that battle is coming later and we know that, that battle has already been won today,” Sylva added.
The Minister, who likened the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the unproductive Biblical servant that could not turn his one talent to two, said governance is not about prudence alone but about creating opportunities.
On the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the former governor of Bayelsa State said the PDP candidate had told Nigerians that he was going to sell off the NNPC to his friends if he eventually becomes President of Nigeria.
“Let’s talk about Atiku, his only mission is to come and sell the NNPC. He sold the other ones before but he forgot that he didn’t sell NNPC and he has told us he is coming back to sell it to his friends,” Sylva said.
For his part, speaking with journalists on the significance of the APC presidential campaign rally in the State, Hon. Nabena, who is also the chairman, publicity committee of the APC Campaign, said they were using the outing to send a message to Diri-led Bayelsa State government that the State belongs to the APC.
“Governor Diri was quoted that a kilometre road in Bayelsa State is more expensive than three bridges in Rivers State. How can the terrain of Rivers and Bayelsa be different? These are sister states, there is no difference. How can you tell us that after collecting that amount – a hundred and something billion naira from the 13 permcent derivation and there is nothing to show?
“We are all here, the state is in darkness, physically we are here, it is not on paper. We have seen everywhere, everywhere is dirty. This is to show that Governor Diri is clueless. He doesn’t even know – instead of him to improve the infrastructure and development in the state, he is busy marrying more wives and also exposing his girlfriend in South Africa. So we are here for ‘operation takeover’.
“Our state cannot continue to suffer in this present state. We must rescue the state – we are the second poorest state after Sokoto. How can that be? Our location is number three or number four, so where is the money going to?
“And our population is the smallest in the country. So the man is wicked and all he is doing is just marrying wives. So, today we are here for ‘operation takeover’ come 2023 election.
“We are going to deliver our presidential candidate and all the National Assembly candidates, that one will tell him that it is time to run to South Africa. We are going to chase him out from the state,” Nabena stated.
