Timipre Sylva, the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the last of the off-cycle governorship election in Bayelsa State has described comments by former President, Goodluck Jonathan, as unfortunate.
Sylva also a former state petroleum minister in a post he put out said “I sincerely hope he (Jonathan) was misquoted.” He added, “Let me quote Wole Soyinka: “you can take the hippopotamus out of the swamp but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus”.
The former president, who commended Diri for “confronting” the security challenges in the state, said he (Jonathan) would have relocated his mother to Abuja, the nation’s capital if the governor had lost the election.
Also the APC deputy candidate, Joshua MacIver, condemned the endorsement of Governor Douye Diri by former President Jonathan.
In a statement released to the media, MacIver described Jonathan’s action as not statesman-like where he should have played a non-partisan, fatherly role to all candidates and parties during the political season.
Reacting also to the former President’s statement of the planned relocation of his mother to Abuja if Governor Douye Diri had lost the governorship election, the Bayelsa APC Governorship running mate said it shouldn’t have been made by a former President.
He added that Jonathan’s recent action caused him to lose the respect of all true followers of the former Minister of State Petroleum Resources and APC Governorship Candidate in the last election, Timipre Sylva