- Timipre Sylva, the APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, has accused Governor Douye Diri of hiring spies to monitor his movements
- He claims that the spying operation aims to compromise his convoy and alleges unethical practices by Diri
Timipre Sylva, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, has claimed that Governor Douye Diri has hired spies to monitor his movements.
Sylva said in a statement issued on Sunday by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Julius Bokoru, that credible intelligence available to him indicated that spies operating across the state, particularly at the Bayelsa International Cargo Airport, had been asked to document and report his movements in the state to some off-grid security architecture.
Sylva, a former governor of the state and former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources claimed that the spying was being coordinated by the governor’s close security aide in order to compromise his convoy.
He urged security agencies and members of the public to take note of Diri’s alleged violence strategy against him and the people of Bayelsa, with a particular emphasis on Opu-Nembe.
He claimed that instead of using the strategy of commissioning and inaugurating projects to persuade the electorate, as other serving governors seeking reelection have done, Diri has allegedly resorted to desperation, violence, and unethical practices in the aftermath of his failure in office.
The statement reads in part;
Credible reports available to H.E Chief Timipre Sylva, the governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State, suggest that Governor Douye Diri has commissioned spies across the state, especially at the Bayelsa International Cargo Airport, to document and report Chief Sylva’s movements in Bayelsa and environs to some off-grid security architecture in the state.
This desperate, illegitimate security operation is headed by a close security aide to Governor Diri and the end game, as is known, is to compromise the convoy and security of Chief Sylva.
This is to alert the general public and especially the security agencies across the nation to take note of Governor Diri’s strategy of violence against Sylva and the Bayelsa people with special focus being Opu-Nembe.
But reacting to the allegations, Diri’s spokesman, Mr Daniel Alabrah, said the governor is a well-known pacifist and an advocate of politics without bitterness, who will not spill blood to get re-elected into office.
It is better to ignore the rantings of a drowning man seeking claws to hang on to or trying to make excuses for his failed governorship project. His rejection by his party chieftains, his Nembe/Brass people, and the Bayelsa electorate is total.
Governor Diri has said he won’t spill blood to get re-elected into office. It is on record that for the first time in the history of elections in Bayelsa State, the February/March general election in the country was so peaceful in the state that there were no reported cases of bloodshed and killings unlike in the past.
This was due to the governor’s peaceful disposition that has permeated the politics of the state. So, Chief Sylva is only crying wolf where there is none. Going by his antecedents, we believe he is the one planning what he is accusing the governor of, Alabrah said.