Bayelsa Election: PDP Accuses SGF Of Plans To Divert FG N2Billion To Support Sylva

The Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State has raised the alarm over fresh moves by the Federal Government to divert public funds to support the governorship election of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Timipre Sylva, through the Amnesty Programme.

The Director of Publicity of the Restoration Campaign Organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, made the allegation in a statement on Friday.

Obuebite alleged that acting on the directives of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, the Special Adviser to the President on the Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd), has been asked to release N2 billion from the Amnesty Programme accounts to support Sylva’s election.Obuebite said the allegation has a “strong conviction” as reliably gathered by the PDP intelligence network and corroborated by “authoritative source at the Presidential Villa in Abuja”.

He claimed in the statement that the funds would be released on Friday (today) or latest by Monday.He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently investigate the allegation.Obuebite stated that while Lawal and other friends of Sylva in the Presidency are right to support their friend in his gubernatorial aspiration, the decision to divert funds from the Amnesty Programme was totally wrong.

He said the funds in question were public funds meant for the payment of school fees of ex-militants who are undergoing training abroad under a special Federal Government amnesty scholarship programme.Other ex-militants at home were also to benefit from the funds as accrued stipends owed them.

Giving insight into the development, Obuebite stated that Sylva had been sighted at the Amnesty Programme office in Abuja a couple of times and that he was the brain behind Boroh’a appointment as the Special Adviser on the Amnesty Programme through his influence and that of the SGF.He alleged that given his influence, too, as a retired General, Boroh has been muzzling his way to deploy soldiers to guard Sylva and his aides in the course of his governorship campaign which, he said, suggested a larger than life status for a man not  occupying any public office.“This is an abuse of office,” he stated.

Obuebite also accused Boroh and Sylva of intent to use the military to rig the election, saying there were reports already towards that end but that the people were poised to resist it.He said: “We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate this diversion of funds meant for the payment of six months stipends owed to ex-militants to support Sylva’s campaign without further delay in the interest of public probity and indeed the cherished integrity of Mr. President.”