Sylva joins Bayelsa guber race

In from Olumide Olaoluwa …
Former Bayelsa State Governor, Timiprieye Sylva, has put an end to speculation on his next political move.
He made a last-minute entrance into the governorship race of the state when he submitted his nomination and expression of interest form at about 4.40pm at the All Progressives Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja.
The former governor said he was contesting to run off an unfinished business in office.
He said after submitting his form, “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.”
He went on: “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.
“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 complete 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.

Read also: Bayelsa poll: Sylva, Alaibe in alleged N5bn secret deal

“The outgoing government has refused to go near that hospital since I was ousted.
“There are a lot of projects that I embarked upon which were deliberately abandoned on the altar of politics.
“We were to commission the Bayelsa state Library but today that project has been overgrown by weeds because somebody wants to mislead Nigerians.”
On the number of aspirants in the race and possible rancour after the primary, he said “This is a democracy and everybody has the right to aspire.
“Democracy is a beautify thing. Many times, when people go into an election and it is free and fair, people tend to accept the results. It is when the election is not transparent that people kicks”.
Speaking on his failed re-election bid in 2012, Sylva said: “I left on the altar of impunity and on the altar of wickedness in high places.
“But today, God has come to Justice and those who thought they were in top of an untouchable mountain have been pulled down.
“We have an unfinished melody and the Lord has presented us an opportunity to finish what we started.”

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