Sylva Hits Back at Former President Jonathan Over Comment on Bayelsa Elections

Timipre Sylva, the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate and former Minister of state for Petroleum Resources hits back at former President Goodluck Jonathan over his comment on the outcome of the just-concluded governorship election in Bayelsa State.

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Posting on X, Sylva wrote: “Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement is unfortunate. I sincerely hope he was misquoted.

“Let me just quote our respected Wole Soyinka: “you can take the hippopotamus out of the swamp but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus.”

Sylva described Jonathan’s comment on the election as unfortunate and wondered if the remark was made by the former president.

Recounting a comment by Wole Soyinka, Sylva said a hippopotamus can’t be taken out of a swamp.

Meanwhile, APC elders council strongly condemned the comment in a signed statement on Sunday by its secretary, Clarkson Ayebaepreye, describing the former president as someone battling “political midlife crises”.

It wondered the extent to which Jonathan could go in satisfying his alleged paymaster, who ordinarily, should be his subordinate.

The APC elders said Jonathan chose to forget that the people of Bayelsa had been in economic and physical violence in the last three years of the PDP government.

The statement said, “We do not know how low Jonathan can still go in his quest to satisfy his paymasters which, sadly, as a former President, were to rightly be his subordinates. Every now and then he is at Creek Haven (Bayelsa Government House) jotting orders from Diri. No former President has reduced himself to such standards.

“On the issue of violence, Jonathan remembers things differently. Bayelsans have faced both physical and economic violence in the state than at any other time during the last three years. It’s in the news, that we the APC campaigned under a hail of violence.

“Nembe-Bassambiri was overrun by state-inspired thugs until the IGP SWAT team moved in and restored order, a move the community rejoiced over and the governor lamented over. We still remember how our chieftains and supporters were attacked at will in Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area. There were skirmishes across the state, all these are documented. So what peace is Jonathan talking about?

“Was APC in power when he, Jonathan’s uncle, was kidnapped? Was APC or Sylva in power when his house at Otuoke was attacked by gunmen? Was APC and Sylva in power when his convoy was attacked? Was APC and Sylva in power when his kinsman, Mike Ogiasa, was kidnapped and dehumanized?”.

The opposition elders said Jonathan should stop aiding and abetting violence and incompetence in the state just to advance his confusing political ambition, adding that though the former president had continued to parade himself as a statesman, he was still neck-deep in politics with clear hatred for the APC.

In addition, they said, “Jonathan cannot keep aiding and abetting violence and incompetence just to forward his confusing political ambitions. The only part of his politics that is clear is his personal hatred for the APC, a rookie party that upstaged him in 2015 as President.

“He should stop going around with the tag of a statesman, he is clearly neck-deep in politics. We have not forgotten that he supported Peter Obi over President Tinubu of the APC in the last presidential elections and just days to the Bayelsa State gubernatorial elections, he was hurriedly packaged to openly endorse Governor Diri and the PDP.

“Everyone is aware of his PDP by day, and APC by night politics to the extent he almost nominated the Minister from Bayelsa State, a move which failed at the final moments. If you remember our group did a press statement to that effect.

“Jonathan should respect the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most exalted office in our country which he has held. Some of his desperate political moves and alignments are below expectations, especially being used as a puppet by a state governor.”