• Ex-minister kicks
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has said the state will institute legal action against the killers of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collateral centre in Brass Local Government Area on November 12, 2023.
He alleged that 31-year-old George Sibo was killed when the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the November 11 governorship poll, Chief Timipre Sylva alongside his party members and supporters, invaded the collation centre and held INEC officials hostage.
At the burial of the deceased in Twon-Brass on Thursday, Governor Diri directed the state Attorney-General to commence legal action against Chief Sylva, a former governor of the state, and those who stormed the collation centre.
The Bayelsa governor expressed sadness over the dastardly killing of the young man and promised that the state government will bring the culprits to book.
He stated that as chief security officer of the state, he declined using his powers in the face of provocation against the main opposition party candidate in the election, who prevented the PDP from campaigning in his community, Nembe-Bassambiri.
Diri emphasised that as governor he deliberately did not challenge the excesses of the APC candidate, as it would have resulted in the loss of innocent lives. The governor described Sibo as a hero, who died defending democracy.
He said: “There are a lot of questions to answer. What was the candidate of the APC, Chief Timipre Sylva, doing at the collation centre in Twon-Brass a day after the election? Why did he go there with the large crowd that led to the killing of this young man?
“I am pained and that was why I directed that autopsy be carried out, which has been done. I have further directed the Attorney-General to institute a case against Timipre Sylva and all those that invaded the collation centre that led to the killing of George Sibo.
“The Attorney-General of Bayelsa State will institute the legal action to unravel his killers. The government of Bayelsa State is there to protect the lives of our people. I came here to mourn with you as we inter a promising young man of our state and of Brass kingdom.” The governor also directed the immediate employment of the deceased’s two wives in the state civil service to enable the state take care of their children.
Meanwhile Sylva, former Minister of State, Petroleum has lambasted the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, for ordering his prosecution.
Sylva said the directive, which Diri gave to his Attorney-General, had shown the governor’s desperation to deploy diversionary tactics and distractions against his case at the Appeal Court.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Bayelsa recalled that Diri had abandoned a phantom EFCC case he conjured to distract him and had devised another style in his failed attempt to stop him and the APC from concentrating on their case.
Sylva declared that Diri’s plot was dead on arrival as he knew nothing about the death of Sibo, whom he described as an illustrious and promising youth of the state.
The former governor of the state in a statement signed by his Special Assistant, Media, Julius Bokoru, asked members of the public to discountenance the new plot by the governor insisting that nothing would stop him from reclaiming his stolen mandate.
