The fight between Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, is yet to be over as the two have continued to exchange words. It started a few months ago during the inauguration of the state executives of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Sylva had rated the performance of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP led government low. He described Diri’s administration as a failure in the areas of infrastructural development, urban renewal and power distribution. The two exchanged words and have become political enemies since then. They have since sought avenues to antagonise each other and downplay their individual achievements. They resumed their hostility again over the conduct of Saturday’s state House of Assembly election.
An independent election monitoring group, had in a statement, accused Sylva of excessive show of desperation to win Brass Constituency 2 House of Assembly election for his stooge who was on the ticket, by attempting to compromise electoral officials in the area. The group also alleged that the former Bayelsa governor engaged in a show of force in his bid to manipulate the results from polling units in Okpoama his hometown and Ewoama communities, using the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff.
Reacting to the development, Diri berated the Minister for allegedly trying to cover up his attempt to manipulate the results of the election in his constituency. The minister was labeled a leopard that never changes its spots. He was accused of returning to his familiar and infamous terrain of election manipulation and rigging once the results did not favour him and his party.
In response, Sylvia described Diri and the PDP as impulsive liars, saying allegations against him were grossly untrue. He added that the electioneering process at Brass Constituency II was stable, safe, free and fair, adding that the people went about freely voting for candidates of their choice, according to their conscience and their hearts. He added that evidence supporting their claims should be presented to the public and relevant authorities instead of capitalizing on hearsay.
