Former Bayelsa State Governor and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva has formally joined the Bayelsa Governorship race.
The former governor submitted his governorship nomination form at the APC’s national secretariat in Abuja on Monday.
While addressing journalists after submitting his form, Sylva accused his kinsman and former President, Goodluck Jonathan of frustrating his government during his tenure as governor from 2007 to 2011, which led to his forced exit from his erstwhile party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after he was blocked from seeking re-election.
He said despite the opposition from the Presidency, he was able to deliver some quality projects to the people of the state but were not consummated before he was ousted by “impunity and wickedness in high places.”
“There is always a driving force behind an ambition. For me, it is very simple. I went into Bayelsa government house in 2007 under very difficult circumstances, having a central government that was interested in ousting me from day one.
“If you noticed, from day one when I entered government house in 2007, the vice president as he then was, was the head of my opposition. When all the state apparatus is summoned to run you out of office, it was a very uphill task. But despite that, we were undaunted and we carried on.
“I went into Bayelsa state at the height of the militancy problem and a few years into my government, I was able to design a strategy which I called the triple e- strategy that led to the end of militancy in the Niger Delta and I can single handedly take credit for that and even my opponents will not begrudge me on that.
“I also went ahead to do a lot of roads. No other governor in the history of the state can say he has done more roads in Yenogoa city than I did. The senatorial roads leading to Okporoma, I started it and also started the road leading to Brass. In the area of power, what we did in power was seen by all.
“As at 2012, we were poised to celebrate in 2013 one year of uninterrupted power supply in Yenogoa city, I had installed turbans and there is a turban that was 93 percent completed when I was ousted.
“The outgoing government refused to commission it because they did not want me to take credit for it. I built a hospital that would have been one of the best in Nigeria and was to be commissioned in May 2012. The outgoing government has refused to go near that hospital since I was ousted,” Sylva added.
Sylva and Chief Timi Alaibe, a former Managing Director of the NDDC, are the two frontrunners for the APC governorship ticket.
