The Bayelsa Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, has raised the alarm over plans by the state Governor, Douye Diri, to squander about N11bn tax payers’ money on election bribes.
Sylva in a statement signed on Wednesday by the Secretary to APC Gubernatorial Campaign Council, Julius Bokoru, said out of desperation to retain power, the Diri’s administration set aside such humongous amount of Bayelsa’s money to buy votes and compromise the integrity of the poll.
“Credible Information at our disposal suggests that the Gov. Diri has perfected plans to spend N11bn of tax payers money on election day alone. This is outrageous, inhuman and the height of insensitivity.
‘We understand also that the Chief of staff to the Governor is making attempts to intercept and meet with INEC officials who came from Abuja with the aim of bribing them with hefty amounts of Bayelsa tax payers monies to work for PDP in the election’
“This humongous amount of cash could have built bridges, roads, schools, hospitals and ensure other infrastructural and human capital development in the state. Having failed the people, Diri has resorted to using our commonwealth to bribe his way back to power”, Sylva said.
The former Petroleum Minister said unlike other performing governors, who relied on their projects and people oriented-policies to campaign for a second term, Diri was banking on money and violence to retain power.
Sylva said: “Candidates already in power gunning for reelection usually campaign with executed projects and milestones. But in this very rare case, the incumbent government is campaigning with nothing other than violence and reckless pilfering of our states commonwealth.
“Elections are won on the supremacy of ideologies and visions, elections are not bought like a market item. It is rather puzzling that at a time of great financial distress in the state, billions will be penciled to bribe voters and electoral officials.
“This is regrettable and we condemn this extravagant and cynical wastage of our state resources for elections purposes, Bayelsans will see through this deception and do the right thing on November 11”.
Sylva said unknown to Diri, the people of Bayelsa had become wiser and more experienced and would not succumb to any inducement to jeopardize their future and suffer another four years of abject poverty.
The former governor told the people to collect their money from Diri and vote him out adding that any mistake of bringing Diri back to power would spell doom on them and their children.
He said: “Bayelsans are intelligent, illustrious, creative and brave people. They have seen the ruin of the last four years and won’t be induced by any amount of money. Bayelsans should have access to money and comfortable living, not just on election days alone. Our people will reject this great insult on election day and vote for their conscience, development and liberation”.