The Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP says the decision of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to foist his “cousin”, Senator Degi Erimienyo, on the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the running mate to the sacked Governor-elect, Chief David Lyon, aided its victory.
The party also asked the minister to look inwards and stop the unnecessary vilification of the Supreme Court and the judiciary.
The PDP, however, called on the international community to impose a Visa ban on the minister, saying that his statements were capable of further plunging the state into violence.
Chief Godspower Keku, the state’s Secretary of PDP, in a statement said Sylva and the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, played a critical role in helping the PDP to wrest power from the APC through the bold decisions of the court.
He commended Sylva and Oshiomhole for making it easier for the PDP through their choice of a running mate.
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Keku said that Sylva’s intention was to make David Lyon and Degi his stooges following his ambition to combine the position of a minister with that of the Governor of Bayelsa State.
He said that with the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the issue of the Bayelsa Governorship, Sylva ought to have apologized for the Nembe violence that erupted in Nembe during the PDP campaign.
He said the minister should also apologise for the vandalism of the houses of former Governor Seriake Dickson, Governor Douye Diri; the attack on the PDP Secretariat, the Steve Azaiki Library, the judiciary among others rather by his party members, who embarked on violent protests after the judgement.
He further said that Sylva should show remorse for the sponsored protests at the residences of Justice Mary Odilli in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
He said: “Sylva should not blame the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. The fact is that he helped us; his people worked with us to reclaim the mandate wrongfully taken by the All Progressives Congress to avert a disaster.
“He should stop blaming the judiciary; apologize for the massacre of 21 persons in Nembe, and the killings which the Federal Forces backed him to perpetrate against the good people of Bayelsa.
“But We thank him and Oshiomhole for making it easy for us, the PDP and the good people of Bayelsa, to stop the catastrophe he and his party wanted to foist on Bayelsa because of his burning ambition to be both minister and Governor by installing a stooge who never won primaries; by bringing Degi, his cousin and foisting him on David Lyon and the APC.
“He should apologize for the Nembe killings, the attack on my home, Gov Diri’s home, the attack on the High Court, the Azaiki Library, the PDP Secretariat and several other places rather than the immoral assault on the Supreme Court.”
He called on the Federal Government to investigate the minister for foisting extreme violence on Bayelsans and Bayelsa since 2015.
He also called on the international community to investigate the minister and impose a visa ban on him for hiding under the influence of the Presidency to perpetuate political terrorism in Bayelsa.
Keku, who called for an investigation of the minister, raised the alarm that the interview he granted was to set the stage for further violence in the state.
He appealed to the youths of the state to ignore the antics of Sylvia who according to him was trading with their future.
