A section of youths from Bayelsa State on Monday asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to stop further persecution of a former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva.
The youths were reacting to a fresh 50-count charge slammed on Sylva by the commission after its initial suit against the former governor was struck out by a Federal High Court.
The youths under the aegis of the Bayelsa Democratic Front (BDF), described the action of the EFCC as orchestrated political persecution against the former governor.
The youths in a statement signed by their President-General, Chief Promise Okpoebi, said EFCC was being used by Sylva’s detractors to deny him his rightful place in the All Progressive Congress government.
They said Sylva’s enemies were stunned to see the former governor’s political comeback at a time they thought he would never rise again.
They, however, praised the judiciary for showing great courage to uphold justice and the integrity of the courts, “despite obvious pressure, when it recently dismissed the EFCC charges against Sylva.”
They condemned EFCC’s strange decision to resume the case at the court that dismissed it, saying such action smacks of dangerous desperation.
They said: “Many politicians in the country – both serving and former – have pending EFCC cases. Why is the case of Sylva being treated this way? This is a desperate attempt to scuttle his political career.
“When the charges against Sylva were withdrawn by EFCC, they claimed it was President Muhammadu Buhari that ordered them to do so. And when the charges were finally dismissed, they said Buhari influenced it. Now that the charges have been brought up again, where is Buhari’s hand in all these?”
The youths further described as abnormal the exclusion of Sylva’s former Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Silva Opuala-Charles, from the new suit by EFCC.
They said it was a further confirmation that the whole scheme was targeted at deliberately hurting Sylva rather than uncover and redress corruption.
“If EFCC was, indeed, intent on fighting corruption afresh, how on earth could it not include in the new charge the Commissioner for Finance, Silva Opuala-Charles, who ran the finances of the state and was a defendant in a previous case, before he was discharged?”
“What has become clear in the case of Sylva is that EFCC is not fighting corruption, it is simply fighting the political career of the former governor.
“We must separate the war against corruption from politics if we are to reap the legally desired benefits of the anti-corruption campaign and ensure the financial discipline that the country needs badly,” they said. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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These are not Bayelsa youths but Timipre Sylva thugs and fellow coca eine inhalers. No sane Bayelsan would condone such momentous stealing by Slyva's government.
ReplyDeleteMy brother. Am tied if these demented youths of Bayelsa. Support for impunity has always been their source of livelihood no matter how obvious and punishable the offenses committed by the offender. Na wonder the state is so backward in development.
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