The former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva on Sunday described as unfortunate and deplorable, the campaign strategy adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Governor Seriake Dickson against his candidature ahead of the December 5 Governorship poll.
He said the recent campaigns embarked upon by the PDP and Governor Seriake Dickson has become worrisome due to its deception and dangerous lies.
A statement issued yesterday in Yenagoa by his campaign organisation, Timipre Sylva Campaign Organisation, said, “ It is an unfortunate fact that Dickson had chosen the defaming of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, as sole campaign message. “
Sylvia, in a statement signed by the media officer to his campaign organisation, Doifie Buokoribo, stated that such a strategy would fail the Bayelsa PDP governorship candidate at the December 5 election just as it failed his principal, former President Goodluck Jonathan, at the last general election.
“We are disturbed that a sitting government desiring re-election has taken to a campaign of calumny, deception, and lies and a sole election strategy. In lie after lie, which we have extensively exposed, they have tried to malign the character of Sylva. But it is clear that Dickson and his co-travellers will fail.”
“They will fail in Bayelsa State, as we are all living witnesses to how such campaign of slander and mudslinging fell flat at the federal level, when it was applied by their principal, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, during the last presidential election. This fact is indubitable, and we ordinarily would not have bothered about Dickson and PDP’s mission of self-destruction in Bayelsa State. But we need to warn that in this election, we are not in a contest for who would abuse most, but in a contest to improve the lives of the people of Bayelsa.”
“What comes out clearly in the current well-funded media campaign against Sylva is that it carries the official stamp of the Dickson administration. The visibly unimaginative and dull anti-Sylva publications have emanated from Government House, Yenagoa, as the email addresses, forwarding, and other imprimaturs of the Dickson government on them show.