Bayelsa: Why Buhari Should Call Sylva And APC To Order -By Timi Pedro

The political atmosphere in Bayelsa State is currently tensed in the build-up to the December 5 governorship election in the state. What the people of the state need to exercise their franchise is adequate security of lives and property, even as the governorship candidates also need a level-playing ground to pursue their mandates.
It is in the light of this that we, the members of Friends of Bayelsa, want President Muhammadu Buhari to call the candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), Chief Timipre Sylva to order before he sets the state on fire. We want Mr President and the entirety of Nigerians to know of the the grand plan by the APC to cause crisis ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

While money politics cannot be dismissed in Nigeria, we feel it is morally wrong for a party that brands itself as change advocate to condone ‘dirty’ politics and, in fact, make it the order of the day, all with the desperation to capture a state that has progressively been transformed into envy of others by the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in the last 16 years. The latest plot is the monetary inducement of some members of the Bayelsa State Executive Council, with a view to using same to instigate violence before the election.
It is surprising and equally amazing that in spite of the economic hardship in the country, a party that promises change will embark on such wasteful journey to budget outrageous sums of money for the purpose of destabilising a state where peace has reigned over the years.This latest move by the APC has, once again, shown that the APC candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva and supporters are a bunch of political anarchists and charlatans blinded by an unbridled appetite for power.

It is perhaps necessary to remind the APC candidate that Bayelsans are aware of their antics and desperation to hijack power through illegitimate means rather than the ballot box and poll which they are afraid to face. It is, unfortunate, that the APC, in its desperation for power and eagerness to make selfish political gains, has shown a total lack of spirit of statesmanship in its preparation towards the election.

Inducing Bayelsans with money and threatening violence is the height of insensitive, indecorous and dirty politics which ought to be condemned by every patriotic Nigerian. We wish to the remind the likes of Timipre Sylva and his sponsors that by the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, the only recognised means of changing a government is through the electoral process which comes every four years.
Once again, we appeal to all Nigerians of good conscience particularly President Buhari to call Timipre Sylva and his gang of supporters to order.

Timi Pedro is the Secretary-general of Friends of Bayelsa, and wrote in from Yenagoa