From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
A former petroleum minister, Chief Timipre Sylva, has dismissed reports linking him to the invasion and disruption of a Council of Chiefs meeting in Okpoama community, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The report had claimed that the suspected thugs who invaded and disrupted the meeting were acting on behalf of Sylva, who is also from the community.
Sylva, also a former governor of Bayelsa State, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs, Chief Julius Bokoru, described the report as inaccurate.
He stated that Sylva’s attention was drawn to a video circulated by the online publication alleging that he inspired a thuggery attack on a traditional chiefs’ meeting in Bayelsa State.
According to the statement, even those persons trying to link the Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa knew it was false.
“Even those who are trying to connect this act to the former Governor know that it is false. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a chief, former Governor of Bayelsa State and former Minister of State for Petroleum, Sylva has consistently eschewed violence in all its forms.
“As Governor, Sylva played a pivotal role in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, which successfully brought ex-militants out of the creeks and ushered in peace in the Niger Delta, thereby maintaining respectable oil revenue.
“His governorship remains the most peaceful in the state’s history. It is perplexing, therefore, that reports would seek to portray Sylva as violent without any tangible evidence.”
The statement said there was no way the viral video could be linked to Sylva, who was in Abuja at the time the incident happened, adding that the culprits had no known affiliations with him or his supporters.
It said, “This is a far cry from the standards of the Nigerian press. The Nigerian Union of Journalists should address this anomaly masquerading as a media unit.”