Date Published: 03/30/10

Militants tackle Sylva on Graft reports

Timipre Sylva

UNREPENTANT militants in Bayelsa State have taken on the state governor, Mr. Timipre Sylva, saying the flurry of media reports on massive fraud in the state is no smear campaign.

But Governor Sylva is claiming that reports of alleged massive fraud in the accounts of the state government is an orchestrated  campaign to  tarnish  his image and  ruin his rising political stature. Sylva who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Doifie Ola, also lashed out at some media reports at the weekend which quoted an alleged Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) interim report, alleging  fraud in the finances of the state to the tune of over N100 billion.

The Sylva spokesperson in an on-line statement yesterday said the reports are  “a well structured campaign to undermine the Bayelsa state government, truncate the governor’s political career by preparing the ground for his illegal removal from office, and may be send him to jail after his governorship.”

But the Network of Freedom Fighters in Niger Delta (NFF), an insurgent group, said the governor was economical with the truth. Co-ordinator of the group, Mr. Nengi James, said on a phone interview on Monday, ''we have been crying out since last year about the worrisome level of corruption in Bayelsa. The said EFCC interim report appears to be vindicating us''.

Another insurgent group, the Niger Delta Patriotic Front (NDPF) galvanised by Mr. Dan Anderson, said the people of Bayelsa are crying for another Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to come and salvage them from rot.

According to Mr. Anderson who co-ordinates the affairs of the NDPF, ''Bayelsa state the way it stands today, is nothing short of a failed state. There is no life-changing developmental project the current ruling circle can point to as theirs. The state is simply rotting away with graft as the order of the day''.

Despite these seeming harsh comments, Governor Sylva is maintaining that a quick content analysis of the said media reports shows that the reporters responsible for the stories have already adjudged the state government guilty even when the said allegations of
financial misconduct have not been tested in a  court of law.

''We do not see it as a coincidence that on the same day, two other newspapers carried another story about the Bayelsa State governor, saying he was contesting “power” with the Acting President!”, he said.

Ola stressed: “This story about grand larceny in Bayelsa state is bogus, and carefully planned to achieve political ends, namely tarnish the image of Governor Sylva, the easier to remove him from Government House.

''The stories are also meant to arouse people’s emotions, and incite them against the Sylva administration. If the EFCC has established a prima facie case against senior officials of the Government of Bayelsa State as it is claimed, the road to travel is the law courts, not the pages of newspapers.

Pointing out that one report  went further to accuse  the governor of involvement in “N101 billion fraud”, and in the infamous Wilbros scam, Ola questioned : “is it that the whole life of the governor that is being investigated by EFCC or his governorship?”

''Every one knows that the Wilbros matter happened before Sylva became governor. Is the said EFCC report an investigation of corruption in Bayelsa state or an investigation into the Wilbros scandal? At best, this is confusion at work!

The spokesman explained that no government since the inception of Bayelsa state has gone through the kind of financial challenge which the Sylva administration is contending with. “Yet, the evidence of the massive infrastructural development is there for all to see.”

“If over N100 billion has been removed from the Bayelsa state government accounts, how much has the state received from the Federation Account and from Internally Generated Revenue since 2007? How much has been spent on salaries and projects?”, he asked.