President Jonathan had on Friday said Sylvia’s bid for a second term was reject because of non- performance from 2007 to 2012.
But Sylva dismissed the President’s assertions yesterday. “Two things stand out in the President’s speech. He talked about a stoning incident in Yenagoa that he watched with pleasure and the Tower Hotel project in Yenagoa that was conceptualized by the Government of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, which Jonathan took over as Governor of Bayelsa State and passed on to Sylva as Governor.
The stoning in Yenagoa happened during the president’s visit and it was widely believed to have been arranged by a few misguided elements,. Sponsors of the incident had tried to deny their involvement and present the event as indicative of the governor’s non-performance. The world now knows better, of course. Everyone is now perfectly well aware of the mastermind of that insult on the Ijaw nation” Sylva said in a statement issued by his Press Secretary, Doifie Ola.
The embattled governor added: “but let us state that it was not the governor who was disgraced by the stoning. Instead, it was the president himself. Now, if stoning is a yardstick for non-performance, are we also right to say that the burning down of Mr. President’s house in 2007, in the run-up to that year’s general elections, was also an act of rejection by the people of the state? A lot of people believed that the burning of his house and the action of militants in 2007 were an expression of rejection. Is Mr President now confirming that wide belief?”
Sylva also added that “besides, it was after the stoning incident in Yenagoa in late 2010 that Mr President came back to Yenagoa, raised the hand of Sylva, and spoke glowingly about his achievements, saying he had performed excellently well and that the people of Bayelsa should vote him into office. It was after the stoning that he came back and voted in the January 2011 PDP governorship primaries and gave a glowing report of Sylva’s performance. So, what suddenly has changed from January 2011…?”
The former governor also referred to the President Jonathan as not saying the truth when he called the Tower Hotel, Yenagoa, as “a monument of disgrace.
The ex governor said the hotel was at the second floor when he took over from President Jonathan as governor and it is now at its 18th floor. He, however, admitted that the job has been delayed because the contractor, whom the President himself chose and awarded the contract to, asked for a variation of N5 billion.
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