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Sylva salvo :Submission of Dickson’s
name to INEC by PDP a non-issue
Newsdiaryonline Sun Dec 11,2011
Sylva
It appears that Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State has not
given up yet on his ambition to be on the ballot for the
forthcoming governorship race .Following reports that the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has forwarded to the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) the name of the aspirant
who emerged from its recent compromise primary in Bayelsa State
as governorship candidate for next year’s election, the
Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, had said the party’s decision
does not change his commitment to the governorship race and the
reality that the PDP is engaged in a charade whose product
cannot stand.
Officially, the PDP has disqualified the governor for the race
and the party is behind
Seriake Dickson now.But there are unresolved issues in court and
that may be the source of Sylva’s hope.PDP has moved ahead by
submitting Dickson’s name to INEC.
Sylva, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Doifie
Ola, said, “This unfortunate decision of the PDP is condemnable
in every democratic sense. But it is all part of a serial
illegality that began since preparation for the governorship
election in the state gathered momentum and reached a
frightening height with a 19 November
primary held against the order of a competent court of
law, the wise counsel of a wide segment of civilised humanity
within and outside Nigeria, and despite the absence of INEC, the
body statutorily mandated to monitor and confer legitimacy on
such exercises. Men of conscience within and outside our shores
have since risen in condemnation of the absurdly pointless act
of November 19 in Yenagoa and it is only natural that anything
emanating from that process cannot stand. Nothing has changed
from this truth.
“As for me and my able deputy, Rt. Hon. Werinipre Seibarugu, we
remain committed to the February 2012 governorship contest in
Bayelsa State under our great party, the Peoples Democratic
Party. We are confident that the truth will emerge at the end of
the day and, by the grace of God and the will of the people, we
will be re-elected.
“The regrettable misadventure of PDP does not change the fact
that we are in court challenging the illegal conduct of PDP in
the Bayelsa State governorship race and it is only the court
that will have the final say in the matter.
“Those trying to plant the seed of illegality at INEC must
realise that Nigeria is a country governed under laws and PDP,
the biggest political party in the country, cannot afford to be
a lawless fiefdom within the democracy.”
Sylva appealed to his teeming supporters in Bayelsa State and
beyond, and all lovers of democracy, to remain calm and
positive, saying, “We are confident in the ability of the
judiciary to return sanity to the political situation in our
state, so that together again we shall continue the patriotic
task of taking our state to the next level.”
“Persons who seek to benefit from the democratic space should
not be afraid to submit their whims and atavistic instincts to
the democratic crucible of the law. The resort to impunity
cannot stand.”
Sylva questioned the basis on which INEC could accept a
candidate from the 19 November primary in Bayelsa State, saying,
“Even though INEC has not announced a shift in its well advised
rejection of the November 19 charade, it is only instructive to
warn that INEC, a critical institutional bulwark against
political arbitrariness, must resist the temptation to be drawn
into the mucky waters of
autocratic partisanship, which those who nurse a morbid
fear for democracy and free choice have reduced the Bayelsa
governorship race to.”
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