• Sylva
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief Richard Kpodo, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of applying double standard over issues of corruption involving a former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva.
Kpodo made the allegation in part two of his open letter to the President entitled, “Why Faces behind Timipre Sylva's shield from prosecution by the EFCC should be uncovered” which he presented to newsmen in Yenagoa during the week.
Kpodo, who is the former state chairman of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, said that true progressives were worried that Sylva had been given the APC ticket for the December 5 governorship poll despite the corruption charges levelled against him.
He noted that while Sylva was walking free, Senator Godswill Akpabio and former Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State had been detained and grilled for hours by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) while former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, was facing the heat in the United Kingdom.
Kpodo, who was Sylva’s special adviser on security matters, reminded Buhari that the former governor was arrested by EFCC operatives from a dingy corner where he allegedly hid himself in his Abuja residence.
He further reminded the President that on January 3, 2013, the anti-graft agency took possession of 48 properties illegally acquired by Sylva with public funds following an interim forfeiture order granted by Justice A.R Muhammed on December 28, 2012.
The letter said: “Change, which is our slogan, has become a sign of worry to our party faithful in Bayelsa and beyond. To add more to our worry, we read of the position presented by some people identified as the Voice of the South-South on alleged lopsided nature of the ongoing anti-corruption crusade.
“Sylva, who was charged with using three companies – Marlin Maritime Limited, Eat Catering Services Limited and Halloween-Blue Construction and Logistics Limited – to move about N19.2bn from Bayelsa State coffers between 2009 and 2012 under false pretence of using the withdrawn money to augment salaries of the state government workers is walking free and representing our party."