Chief Timipre Sylva, the Bayelsa APC Governorship Candidate for the November poll, says he will not succumb to intimidation or blackmail in the collective struggle to rescue the state.
Sylva, who is the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, restated his resolve not to be deterred by any sponsored falsehood and harassment from any quarters.
A statement by Mr Horatius Egua, the Senior Adviser, Media and Communications, to Sylva and given to Persecondnews said: “In the past few months, there have been series of attacks and campaigns of calumny against Chief Timipre Sylva in the media, falsely accusing him of all sorts of misdemeanour, including falsification of certificate and defamation.
“A careful analysis of all the publications reveal an orchestrated attempt by some disgruntled elements and known blackmailers to dampen the political enthusiasm and commitment of Chief Timipre Sylva to the call to continue his service to the nation and Bayelsa State in particular.
“Since emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Gubernatorial candidate for Bayelsa State, a certain Timi Frank, a political prostitute and jobber has been busy making unsubstantiated allegation against Chief Timipre Sylva, doing the bidding of his paymaster.
“Through his attention seeking and imbecilic allegations, he has thrown overboard decency and resorted to gutter tactics in confusing the ordinary person on the street.
“Ordinarily, Chief Sylva would not want to dignify the character behind this defamatory publications with any response but for the purpose of letting the general public, especially the good people of Bayelsa know the reasons for these barrage of attacks, we have decided to address a few issues raised in the publication.”
On the alleged use of multiple names by Sylva, Egua recalled that a Federal High Court, in Abuja, in 2023 dismissed the alleged certificate forgery case filed by the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative, TADI, against Sylva.
Persecondnews recalls that the court in a copy of its ruling dated March 8, 2023 had dismissed the matter following an application by the lawyer to the plaintiff, Edward Onaga, seeking the withdrawal of the case.
TADI had dragged Sylva to court demanding his suspension from office and prosecution for allegedly giving false evidence and presenting false academic credentials for all political positions he held so far.
The group claimed it found that the Minister mismatched names on his academic credentials among other allegations.
Egua also said: “Sylva has already sworn an affidavit in respect of the identity issue and has gone ahead to do a Deed Poll, which has already been gazetted. So all legal processes have been duly followed.
“So for anyone to impute that Chief Sylva did not go to school or falsified his certificate is a clear demonstration of a man who suffers from memory loss. It’s only an imbecile that can concort such mischievous and misleading information to sell to the public.
“Anyone who is in doubt about Chief Sylva’s academic qualifications or certification can also go to the University of Port Harcourt where he graduated in 1986.
“His classmates are everywhere in Nigeria. Rotimi Amaechi former Minister of Transportation is one of his classmates and the Abia State Governor-elect who is the current president of the University Of Port Harcourt Alumni was a year behind Chief Sylva, at the university.
“These unfounded allegations against Chief Sylva are clearly borne out of the minds of those elements who could do nothing to halt the impending move to take Bayelsa state from those who have kept the state on its kneels in the last decade.”
“Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must collectively reject the pull-down syndrome of the few who do not see anything good about the Nigerian State.
“This is the time for all of us to join hands together with well-meaning Nigerians to build a formidable nation where every Nigerian has a stake,” he added.
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