Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress has debunked rumours making the rounds that he had pulled out of the “inconclusive” Bayelsa State gubernatorial election which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced will now be conducted on January 9, 2016.
Recall that INEC had cancelled the election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area which held on December 6 because of violence and widespread electoral malpractice, while elections in other LGAs were conducted on December 5, and declared the gubernatorial election “inconclusive”.
In a Thursday statement by Mr Doifie Buokoribo, his media aide, Sylva described the rumour of his pulling out as the handiwork of members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party who were scared of his imminent victory.
The ex-governor said it was a deliberate ploy by desperate PDP members to protect the incumbent governor, Seriake Dickson, whom he said would be defeated in the re-run polls.
The statement read in part: “Dickson should wait for the outcome of the governorship election and try to control his outbursts of fear and deceit, which cannot sway any Bayelsan, as the people already know better.
“The falsehood about Sylva’s withdrawal from the governorship race that Dickson had tried to mar with his uncivilised vituperations and open call for violence is part of the same strategy of deceit and violence, which he and the PDP had employed since the beginning of the election process.
“In lie after lie, which we have roundly exposed, Dickson has shown that he has nothing other than deception to offer the people of Bayelsa State in the on-going election. This latest chicanery about Sylva’s withdrawal, like the others before it, will not give Dickson any reprieve from the sure and imminent defeat awaiting him.”