The New Experience Newspapers Online News Indepth, Analysis and More
The Minster of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has dissociated himself from the attack on the Abuja home of the Odilis in the aftermath of the nullification of the gubernatorial victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the November 16,2019 contest in Bayelsa State, Chief David Lyon, by the Justice Mary Odili-led five-member Supreme Court panel on February 13 this year.
In a statement he personally issued yesterday in Abuja, the minister said, “there is no truth in the strange claim by Governor Nyesom Wike that I and the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, should be held responsible for the protest at the home of the Odilis.
The former Bayelsa henchman said he hoped that, “Governor Wike or those working with him have not organised the protest with the intention of hanging it on our neck to incense the Supreme Court towards us, knowing that we intend to approach the Supreme Court again.”
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned what it called “Federal Government’s delay in arresting the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, for openly inciting the attack on Justice Mary Odili over the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Bayelsa State governorship election”
According to the opposition party, “it is clear that the attack on Justice Odili by APC thugs is part of APC’s plot to intimidate, harass and cow the judiciary and judges to do only its bidding in delivering judgments on cases involving the PDP and its members.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said: “Nigerians are not deceived by the desperate effort by APC leadership to politicise the attack on Justice Odili by making flimsy and baseless allegations against the PDP, in a failed bid to divert public attention from their culpability in the attack.”
In a related development, Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu, yesterday deplored the incident, insisting that judicial officers must be free to dispense justice without fear or favour.
In a statement he personally issued in Abuja, the lawmaker lamented the “continued dwindling of the nation’s democratic credentials and fortunes”, describing the event as a “very ominous development for the nation’s democracy.
He, therefore, urged a “halt to the decent into anarchy.”
Meanwhile, Governor Douye Diri has appointed four principal officers to assist him in steering the ship of state in Bayelsa.
His Acting Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, who disclosed this in a statement, said the appointees include former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Friday Konbowei Benson, as Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
Chairman of Ogbia Brotherhood, Chief Benson Agadaga is Chief of Staff while Peter Pereotubo Akpe emerged as Deputy Chief of Staff.