Bayelsa group condemns display of wealth at birthday bash of ex-Gov Sylva, calls for EFCC probe

Sharp criticisms on Sunday continued to trail what has been described as “an absurd display of wealth” by a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, during a birthday party organised by him and his friends.

A group in Bayelsa State, Bayelsa Progress Front (BPF) said it was regrettable that Sylva who allegedly presided over a failed government for six years and largely responsible for the penury and misery in his state, resorted to “remorseless ostentatious display of wealth.”

The Secretary-General of the BPF, James Ebipade said in a statement issued in Yenagoa on Sunday, that Sylva’s decision to “display opulence amidst a citizenry groaning under the crushing weight of the harsh economic policies of the All Progressives Congress (APC) amounted to taking insensitivity to new heights.”

The organisation insisted that an investigation by Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), into Sylva’s alleged corrupt practices including the seizure of his 48 houses which was truncated when he opted to join the APC would be a welcome development.

He lamented that as governor of Bayelsa, Sylva’s administration was marked by bounty federal allocation, but that the former governor allegedly tied the debt noose around Bayelsa by taking bonds to overburden the state with huge debts without investments and projects to account for the billions of Naira.

He described the former Governor as a man with summersaulting priorities who lacked the gift of probity and accountability.

Ebipade said that the immoral display of wealth only showed in clear terms that it had become too late for Sylva to change, insisting that wastefulness and misplaced priorities seemed to be a part of him.

The BPF claimed that Sylva’s tenure as governor of Bayelsa was marked by mind boggling corruption and abuse of office.

Ebipade insisted that the former Governor has a moral responsibility to tell Bayelsan and indeed all well meaning Nigerians how he managed N709 billion from the Federation Account aside from the internally generated revenue of N22.02bn and the bonds he took between 2007 and 2011.

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According to him, a leader with conscience would have taken advantage of the day of his birthday to look inward and explore opportunities to improve the lives of the people.

He further claimed, that records indicated that the former Bayelsa helmsman committed only N68 billion to capital expenditure while recurrent gulped N648,512, 509, billion during his years years in charge of Bayelsa.

The group accused Sylva of leaving behind an underdeveloped, insecure state, which was a haven for cultists, thugs, drug addicts, militants and criminal elements during his six years in Bayelsa.

Ebipade urged Bayelsans to be wary of the antics of diaspora politicians from the state who could boast of houses in Abuja, London, the cities of the United States and South Africa without any in Bayelsa.

He challenged the former governor to devote attention to the empowerment of the teeming youth populace by way of seed capital to support entrepreneurship.

Ebipade said that while the BPF wished Sylva a happy birthday celebration, he should look inward, to see how he can help develop Bayelsa.

 

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