Ex-militant Leader Denies Slapping Timipre Sylva

A senior member of the defunct militAnt group, the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), Africa Ukparisia, known along the creeks and
waterways of Bayelsa as General Africa, has
denied he
slapped the governorship candidate of the All
Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Timipre Sylva over
his choice of a running mate for the December 5
contest.
Some politicians in the State had claimed that the ex-
militant slapped Mr. Sylva, who is also a former
governor of the state, over his alleged decision to
choose a retired school principal, Mr. Wilberforce Ekeri,
ahead of the State party chairman, Mr. Tiwei
Orunimigha.
It was alleged that Mr. Orunimigha had gone to the
Abuja residence of Mr. Sylva in the company of Mr.
Ukparisia to confront him over his choice, and that the
meeting became heated, during which the former
militant slapped Sylva and a full-blown fight erupted.
But in a statement delivered by email yesterday, the
former militant described the reports about a quarrel
between him and Mr. Sylva, as a fabricated lie.
He dismissed the entire matter as a “fictitious and
malicious story", claiming that preliminary
investigation had shown that the lies and unfounded
claims were the idea of the rival Peoples Democratic
Party and its candidate in the election, Governor
Seriake Dickson.
He described the story as a futile attempt by the PDP
to score cheap points ahead of the poll, and that the
incident did not take place between any members of
the APC.
“Chief Sylva is the APC leader and my leader, and he
has the complete loyalty and support of the entire APC
family in Bayelsa State. I have no reason to disrespect
him or doubt his leadership of our great party. “
“Neither does our chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminigbe,
whose name was also used in the lie circulated by
PDP in their desperation to ridicule APC and try to
score cheap political points. The attempt to sponsor
negative rumors about our governorship candidate,
Chief Sylva, is, to all intents and purposes, the only
campaign message and strategy of PDP and its jittery
candidate, Hon. Seriake Dickson.”
He further described the matter as “a huge joke that
cannot save the drowning governor and his party from
a crushing defeat on December 5,” adding that the
PDP will not succeed in dividing APC in the State or
distracting it from the goal of rescuing Bayelsa from
PDP’s regime of deception.