Bayelsa PDP advises Sylva to quit guber race after court disqualification

The Governorship Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has advised former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, to drop out of the race for the November 11 governorship election in the state.

Director-General of the campaign council, Mitema Obordor, who gave the advice during the party’s rally in Sagbama local government area on Tuesday in continuation of Governor Douye Diri’s re-election campaign, said Sylva, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), should honourably drop out of the race as he hadbeen disqualified by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Sylva was disqualified from participating in the guber election by the Federal High Court in Abuja on the grounds that he had been sworn in twice as governor of the state which runs counter to the constitution and electoral act.

But Sylva who is fighting tooth and nail to overturn his disqualification, has gone to the Court of Appeal hoping to get a favourable verdict in time for the election.

However, Obordor, who is also the House of Representatives member for the Ogbia Federal Constituency, said Sylva does not enjoy any level of acceptance across the state, which he claimed was a pointer to his imminent defeat.

READ ALSO:S’Court rules on certificate forgery suit against Bayelsa PDP senatorial candidate

“Let me begin my remarks with a call on Timipre Sylva to toe the part of honour and step down from this election,” Obordor said at the campaign ground.

“There are reasons I say this. The first is that for you to govern a state, you must be seen to be an honest person. You cannot say a thing today and turn 180 degrees tomorrow to do a different thing.”

Obordor alleged that Sylva was dishonest after publicly declaring that his ambition to become governor again was over, stating that someone who cannot be true to himself should not be trusted with power.

“The same man spoke publicly that the chapter of contesting for governorship was over in his life. So that man is dishonest as far as I am concerned.”

The campaign DG also stressed that the principle of zoning in the state does not at the moment favour Bayelsa East where Sylva hails from, but rather the Central senatorial district, which is Governor Diri’s area.

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