Rising
from a meeting in Lagos on Wednesday, the Niger Delta leaders through the
Chairperson of the Publicity Committee of the Assembly, Ibifuro Tatua, in a
statement said Dickson and his collaborators were executing a plan to discredit
and hang Sylva
Irked by Monday’s
castigation of Chief Timipre Sylva by the Bayelsa State Commissioner for
Finance, Hon. Duate Iyabi, particularly claims that the Governor Seriake
Dickson administration inherited a paltry N4,451 from his predecessor and the
challenges posed by the N50 billion bond his predecessor secured, Niger Delta
leaders have risen in defence of the ex-governor, describing the recent attack
on Sylva as a ploy to whip up sentiment that would make the ex- governor
unpopular and also divert attention from Dickson’s poor performance.
Rising from a meeting in
Lagos on Wednesday, the Niger Delta leaders through the Chairperson of the
Publicity Committee of the Assembly, Ibifuro Tatua, in a statement said Dickson
and his collaborators were executing a plan to discredit and hang Sylva.
The statement reads in
part: “It’s obvious that the intention of Dickson and his associates is to
destroy Sylva completely apparently because they consider him an obstacle in
their life mission to control Bayelsa State and its people.”
Rather than address
issues of development, the leaders accused the governor of resorting to cheap
blackmail, blatant lies and diversionary tactics.
“When Sylva took office,
he not only inherited an empty treasury but a huge debt burden, which for the
sake of decency and respect for his kinsman and predecessor, he refused to
disclose publicly,” the leaders said.
Reviewing Sylva’s tenure,
the leaders said the ex-governor performed excellently in most sectors to the
envy of his foes.
“Sylva devoted his
energies and state resources to solving the problems of infrastructure in the
state, training the youths in Information and Communication Technology in
India, sustaining overseas scholarship, protecting oil installations in the
creeks, ensuring life changing developmental projects, attracting foreign
investments, laying solid foundation for growth and investing in skill
development and job creation centres,” they said.
Insisting that Sylva’s
humility, simplicity and humane disposition made him a friend of the masses,
the leaders said Sylva’s dogged commitment to principle in the practice of
politics, the rule of law and the best democratic tradition of fairness and
justice were some of the attributes that brought him into collusion with the
enemies of democracy.
The leaders, while asking
God to rescue Bayelsa State from the likes of Dickson, urged officials of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be thorough in the course of
carrying out their duties.
“We perceive the attack
on Sylva by the EFCC as a political showdown to settle political scores,” they
said.
They also appealed to
critics of Sylva to visit Bayelsa State to see how the state had been plunged
into darkness through the leadership style of the present governor.
The Niger Delta leaders
said: “The relentless and vicious manner in which Dickson has haunted and
poured venoms on Sylva clearly reveal that he is the arrow head of a dark and
abhorrent conspiracy meant to destroy the ex-governor at all cost.
“We as a people cannot
but admire a man of Sylva’s style, capacity and stature.
“We identify with him.”
