The All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State said on Wednesday that the state governor, Mr Douye Diri was occupying an office he did not deserve and described him as “an illegitimate governor.”
The APC in a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Mr Doifie Buokoribo, said that Diri and the Peoples Democratic Party were also aware that Bayelsans did not give him their mandate on November 16, 2019.
Buokoribo said, “Legally, Douye Diri is the governor of Bayelsa State, but in the hearts and minds of our people, he is illegitimate.
“He was not the one they voted for. He will bear the burden of illegitimacy throughout his tenancy at Creek Haven, Government House, Yenagoa.”
The party was reacting to a statement credited to the state chapter of the PDP in which it claimed that the APC national chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, helped the PDP to win the governorship election.
The PDP also condemned Sylva for his criticism of the Supreme Court judgements voiding the participation of APC in the governorship election in a recent national television interview.
The PDP also accused Sylva of “foisting extreme violence on Bayelsans and Bayelsa since 2015”.
It claimed Sylva was responsible for the pockets of violence in Yenagoa and Abuja following the sacking of the former governor-elect David Lyon.
But the spokesman for the state APC said the PDP’s position was “irresponsible, petty and provocative”, stressing that it was very clear that the APC and not the PDP won the governorship poll “fair and square.”
Buokoribo said the decision of the Supreme Court to ignore the Bayelsa State electorate and make themselves the voters, and impose another person as governor, was “strange and incompatible with democratic norms.”
He said, “This is a judgement without justice; this is a judgement without legitimacy. Yes. Even though we are bound by the judgement as a legal entity, our party does not consider the action of the Supreme Court as fair or just.
“As citizens, we have the right to critique the decision of the apex court.
Nobody or institution, not even the governor imposed on us by the Supreme Court or his party, can deny us the right.
Buokoribo further reiterated that Sylva had no hand in the protests that took place in Yenagoa and Abuja as a result of the apex court’s verdict of February 13, stressing that it was the government of Diri’s predecessor, Seriake Dickson, “that ran a regime of heist, violence and lawlessness since 2012.”
He noted that Diri so far had not shown any sign that he would conduct the affairs of the state in a manner that was totally different from Dickson’s style.
The spokesman for the state APC condemned the governor’s recent decision to take a bank loan of N2.9b for the purpose of buying “operational vehicles for the governor, his deputy and other top government functionaries”.
He added, “Coming less than three weeks as governor, this move is scandalous, unsympathetic and ungodly. Sadly, the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has approved the loan request.
“Diri is taking the loan at a time when civil servants and pensioners in the state have not been paid. This is a continuation of the frivolities of the PDP government of Dickson; a major reason the people of the state roundly rejected them at the poll.
“Unfortunately, Bayelsa State is in for another long haul under an illegitimate regime that does not feel any sense of commitment to the welfare and sensibilities of the people.
“This cannot be the government that the people of Bayelsa State deserve. It cannot be the government the people voted for.”
