Chief Timipre Sylva, the Bayelsa State governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned those sowing fabrications about his withdrawal from the governorship contest are engaging in a failed effort to save their principal, the incumbent Governor Henry Seriake Dickson from “sure and imminent defeat.”
Sylva, who spoke in Yenagoa on Thursday through his Media Adviser Doifie Buokoribo, advised Dickson, the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop dissipating energy on falsehood, hypocrisy and deceit.
“Dickson should wait for the outcome of the governorship election and try to control his outbursts of fear and deceit, which cannot sway any Bayelsan, as the people already know better,” Buokoribo said in a statement.
The statement added, “The falsehood about Sylva’s withdrawal from the governorship contest that Dickson had tried to mar with his uncivilised vituperations and open call to violence is part of the same strategy of deceit and violence, which Dickson and PDP have employed since the beginning of the election process.
“In lie after lie, which we have roundly exposed, Dickson has shown that he has nothing other than deception to offer the people of Bayelsa in the on-going election. This latest chicanery about Sylva’s withdrawal, like the others before it, will not give Dickson any reprieve from the sure and imminent defeat awaiting him.
“Sylva has no reason to withdraw from the election he is poised to win. In fact, the matter has gone beyond Sylva. The people of Bayelsa State have bonded in a mass movement determined to make Dickson’s maladministration history. The issue is now between Dickson and the mass of the people who have resolved to vote him out. Little wonder he resorted to sponsorship of violence during the election, knowing he cannot win a peaceful contest in the state he has misruled for nearly four years.
“Dickson’s has achieved a remarkable notoriety for spreading lies about Sylva, using certain political newsletters masquerading as online newspapers, and sponsoring ridiculous suits on the on-going election. He has also set up a kangaroo commission of inquiry to try to divert attention from his crimes against Bayelsa people in the last few weeks. All these will fail.
Concede defeat – Dickson tells Sylva
Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has called on his main opponent in the inconclusive governorship election in the state Chief Timiprie Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to concede defeat.
Dickson, the PDP candidate in the election, said this while briefing newsmen on Saturday in Abuja.
He said that he was the leading candidate in the election having won six out of the seven local government areas so far declared with good margin.
The governor also expressed confidence that he stood a chance to win the election in the remaining local government, adding that the Southern Ijaw was his stronghold.
He added that there was no APC presence in Southern Ijaw, stressing that his administration in the last three and half years had done so much in the local government.
“If we were in a decent clime, my brother and friend, Timiprie Sylva and his party should have conceded defeat long ago because I am the leading candidate,’’ he said.
Dickson lauded the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a rerun in the affected area.
He alleged that what took place in Southern Ijaw was a complete abuse of electoral processes and the norms and so INEC had to cancel it on the first day.
“The inconclusive election in the affected area was an election that never took place which everybody is aware of because there was hijack of election materials.
“We should be interested in asking some people who should be explaining how they came about sensitive documents,’’ he said.
He called on the Federal Government and the security agencies to create an enabling environment and create a level playing for electoral processes to succeed.
“The national security establishment must have their eyes on the ball by securing this country within and without.
“We are available to ensure that our country is safe because you cannot talk of security until every part of the country is safe,’’ he said.
INEC has fixed Jan. 9, 2016 for the rerun election for the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in consultation with all stakeholders.
-NAN
