Stop insulting Buhari, Sylva warns Dickson

FROM FEMI FOLARANMI, YENAGOA
T he Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and former Governor of Bayelsa State,
Chief Timipre Sylva, yesterday cautioned the State Gov­
ernor, Hon. Seriake Dickson against disparaging and
denigrating the person of President Muhammad Buhari
and other Service Chiefs over the inconclusive
governorship election in the state.
According to Sylva, though Governor Dickson has the right
to freedom of expression, the increasing verbal tirades and
threats being issued by him against the person of
President Buhari is an open display of disrespect to the
office of the President and a show of desperation to
remain in office.
Sylva,in a statement issued yesterday in Yenagoa by Chief
Nathan Egba, the Director of Media and Publicity for the
Sylva/Igiri campaign Organisation, stated that “Dickson’s
almost daily rituals of insulting Mr. President, the Sec­
retary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), the
Military High Command and other senior citizens of the
country because of an election he was not able to win, is
no longer acceptable to say the least.
“The recent frequent outbursts on radio and television
stations were unwarranted and unbecoming of a
Governor. How can Dickson continue to incite Bayelsa
people against the FG, security agencies, INEC and every
other official just because of the Bayelsa governorship
election?
“These are few of the numerous unguarded statements by
Governor Dickson, a man who took an oath to defend the
constitution. Governor Dickson had alleged that President
Muhammadu Buhari, wanted to win Bayelsa state for the
APC by all means and that the consequence “of any
attempts to undermine the Ijaw people would be disas­
trous” while also describing the Nigerian army as ‘army of
occupation that must be driven out of Ijaw land.
“We are compelled to forward all these inciting statements
by Governor Dickson as recorded from the several radio
broadcasts to the Security Agencies for further
investigation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, however, all the allegations
leveled against President Muhammadu Buhari, Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, Minister of Defence
and the security agencies deployed for the election in
Bayelsa are false, baseless and the figment of the
imagination of Governor Dickson and the PDP. Nigerians
and the world know that President Buhari remains a man
of honour and integrity who has not shown any bias in this
election, being an apostle of transparent, free and fair
electoral process.
“Unfortunately, Mr. President’s desire to conduct free, fair
and credible elections, devoid of violence has been truncat­
ed by the violent acts and electoral fraud perpetrated by
Governor Dickson and his PDP thugs imported into
Bayelsa state to compromise the election,” the statement
concluded.