Former Special Adviser to erstwhile Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, Chief Richard Kpodo, has accused his former principal of sponsoring the stoning of the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2011.
Youths had hauled stones at Buhari at the Amarata field in Yenagoa, the state capital, when he (Buhari) came for the 2011 presidential campaign on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change.
Kpodo, who was in charge of security under Sylva, alleged on Monday that the former governor hired the thugs that pelted Buhari with stones.
He claimed he could not stop Sylva from carrying out his plan because he only got to know about the stoning after the incident.
He said shortly after the incident, Sylva accused Buhari of entering the state without observing protocols, stressing that the ex-governor claimed that Buhari failed to inform him of his visit.
Kpodo said his grouse with Sylva was that he betrayed him despite supporting him against a sitting President (Goodluck Jonathan).
Accusing Sylva of double-facedness, Kpodo said the former governor lacked the moral rights to accuse Jonathan of betraying him since he (Sylva) was “a serial betrayer” of his supporters.
He said Sylva inherited an empty treasury from Jonathan but failed to disclose it to members of the public because he was playing “a good boy to the President”.
He said there was no reason for Sylva to be complaining when he failed to do the right thing at the right time.
Kpodo said, “Sylva said he is close to Buhari. Which Buhari is he close to; the one he sent people to stone in 2011? If he had died,would Sylva had said he is close to Buhari?
“Sylva masterminded the plan of stoning Buhari. I can mention names. Why we did not say anything then was because we took oath of office. Sylva has resorted to betray people like us who stood by him when he was fighting the President.
“We were the people who made publications against Mr. President. We came out again to fight for the new PDP. We were fighting the PDP and they declared us wanted. They wanted to assassinate us.
“They even went to my village to arrest my family, that I am trying to incite people against the government; a lot of criminal claims against me. Where was Sylva in all of these? When we succeeded and joined APC, he brought his stooges to destroy the party; he betrayed us.”
He alleged Sylva did not campaign for Buhari and the APC in the state, adding that the lack of visibility of the party in the state led to Buhari’s defeat in Bayelsa in the last general elections.
Efforts to get Sylva to react to the allegations by Kpodo were unsuccessful.
Calls to his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off while a text message to his mobile phone was not responded to as of press time.
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