Former governor of Bayelsa State and Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has faulted the incumbent Governor Douye Diri over the state’s infrastructure and development.
Chief Sylva said the governor does not know what to do with “the stolen mandate of APC in Bayelsa.”
Also, the former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Yekini Nabena, said the APC has declared operation takeover 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 the array of candidates jostling to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
The presidential candidate well attended the event, the National Working Committee members, other national leaders and massive supporters across the state.
According to Sylva, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very presidential. He has a track record that nobody can beat. When they asked me why I was so sure that Tinubu was the best Presidential candidate, I also asked them who was contesting with him because I didn’t know.
They say Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, but I told them that those people are not a match for our candidate because we must look at their track records. What did Obi do in Anambra State when he was a governor?”
While commenting on 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, you can see that they don’t even know what to do with it. Look at the state of Bayelsa now. According to National Statistics, it is the second poorest state in Nigeria.
“You can see why it is so. Can an 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 for a long time that the flood was coming but 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 it has already been won today.”
The Minister, who likened Peter Obi to an unproductive Biblical servant who could not turn his one talent into two, said governance is not about prudence alone but about creating opportunities.
On Atiku Abubakar, the former governor Sylva said the PDP candidate had told Nigerians that he would sell off the NNPC to his friends if he eventually became President.
“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.”
Speaking with newsmen on the significance of the APC rally in the state, Hon. Yekini Nabena, who is also the Chairman, campaign publicity committee, said they were using the outing to send a message to the Diri-led Bayelsa state government that the state belongs to the APC.
“Governor Diri was quoted that a kilometre of 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 percent 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 the governor, 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 does is marry his wives. So today we are here for operation takeover come 2023 election.
We will deliver our presidential candidate and all the National Assembly candidates, and one will tell him that it is time to run to South Africa. We will chase him out of the state,” Nabena stated.
