The Association of Concerned Bayelsa Professionals (ACBP) has condemned what it described as calculated attempts by a former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, to disrupt peace and stability in the state.

The organisation specifically referred to a report credited to the Media Office of the former governor describing, the claims contained in the said statement as not only false but a plot designed to instigate a campaign of calumny against Governor Seriake Dickson and his administration following the recent mayhem in Brass Local Government area of the state.

ACBP in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Secretary-General, Saviour Aduba, said contrary to insinuations, the violence was caused by men of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Brass Local Government Area where five thugs were arrested for violence and illegal possession of firearm.

The group regretted that Sylva had over a long period of time been engrossed in acting out a ‘satanic script of instability” against the Dickson administration which it said ran contrary to the expectation of his status as a former governor.

The organisation therefore advised Sylva in the interest of the state to refrain from playing what it regarded as a dangerous politics with security, peace and development of Bayelsa.

The statement read in part: “We are constrained to say here that Bayelsa does not need a sustenance of the harmful acrimony and bitterness that have held this state down for years. The statement issued by the Media Office of Sylva is devoid of the expression of desire of leader for peace and development; rather it is a pathetic advertisement of Sylva’s bitterness against the current administration.

“To us, Sylva cuts the image of a confused and confusing politician with a complicated case; his hatred for one man has deprived him of the capacity to identify his real enemy. In a classic display of self deceit, Sylva and his band of terror merchants would rather see the image of Hon. Dickson in their imagined threat. Is this a case of delusion?

“The truth is that greatest enemy of Silva is his political past, and an injured conscience at war with itself. The tragedy of Sylva is the pathos evoking story of man being tormented by his conscience; it indeed a classic case of the wicked fleeing at the sight of nobody.

“As a group, we cannot forget in hurry, the loudest legacy of Sylva captured in the slaughter of innocent people by operatives of Famutangbe, the very security output he purportedly designed and funded with Bayelsa money to protect the people.

“We cannot afford the luxury of neutrality in this matter of good and evil because it is still fresh in our memory that several families are agonizing from the deep cuts inflicted on them by operatives of Sylva’s killing machine, Operation Famutangbe. Perhaps Sylva should approach the streets of Bayelsa to make a comparative analysis of Famutangbe which would recall a past of pains, of tears in the memory of the people in the streets of Yenagoa and Dickson’s Doo Akpo which has brought succour to them.

“Therefore, it rankles the mind for Sylva’s Media Office to arrogate to him a non- existent moral authority to comment on matters of state security. Let the truth be told that violence, insecurity and fear are the reference factors of the Sylva years in Bayelsa.”

ACBP further said that what have become the Brass debacle and the culture of violence in that local government area is flowing from a tradition of violence which, it said, was traceable to Sylva’s brand of desperate politicking and his propensity for violence.

The group also stated Sylva and Dickson were two different individuals, stressing that whilst Silva was bereft of vision and ideas and was rejected twice, Dickson has reshaped governance and redesigned the face of development in Bayelsa State.

“Therefore, we call on all politicians to always consider the interest of Bayelsa above their individual ambitions. Playing politics with security and the development of a deprived state is an unacceptable descent to depravity. Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation are greater than one single individual. It is on this note that we advise our people to be watchful in order not to lose our focus,” ACBP stated.

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