More trouble for Bayelsa gov

Tribune

9 November 2011

More trouble for Bayelsa gov

•As EFCC, ICPC storm state •To monitor banks, contractors •Nothing to hide - Sylva

AMIDST petitions against some state officials, including Governor Timipre Sylva, operatives of the nation’s anti-sleaze agencies have stormed Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, in continuation of investigations into alleged sharp practices against the governor and some public office holders in the state.

Nigerian Tribune can authoritatively report that some operatives of both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and those of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC), have been in the state since Thursday last week.

This development is coming barely 72 hours to the election of ward delegates on Saturday, November 12, preparatory to the governorship primary scheduled for November 19, just as some serving commissioners in the state are reportedly making moves to dump Sylva and switching camp to that of Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, who declared interest in being the governor of the state before a mammoth crowd on Monday this week.

At the time of this report, Governor Sylva, former Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Timi Alaibe, as well as entertainment guru, Ben Murray-Bruce, were yet to be cleared for the primary even as concerted effort to sway President Goodluck Jonathan to the side of the embattled governor to get the party’s clearance had met a brick wall.

A highly placed security source told the Nigerian Tribune that the dramatic mobilisation of officials of both the EFCC and ICPC to the state was as a result of fresh petitions which alleged that the governor and some unnamed officials of the state were on the verge of making hasty payments to some contractors before the governorship primary.

Affected banks, it was learnt, have also been put under close watch by the anti-sleaze bodies in order to stop what the source called “speedy clearance of government cheques.”