Former Governor of Bayelsa State and Former Minister of Petroleum for State Timpre Sylva has replied to the statement of the Former President of Nigeria Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Recall that Timpre Sylva was the flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress ( APC) during the 11th November 2023 Governorship election in Bayelsa State. He was defeated in the election by the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State and Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) His Excellency Doye Diri.
In a viral news, it was reported that former president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan said that if Timpre Sylva had won the Bayelsa State Governorship election held on 11th November 2023 across the eight Local Government Areas that make up Bayelsa State, he would have relocated his mother from Bayelsa State to the Federal Capital Territory( FCT) Abuja.
Goodluck Jonathan was a former Deputy Governor and Governor of Bayelsa State before he became Vice President and President of Nigeria.
In the reply from Sylva, he didn’t equivocally agree that Jonathan said what was reported in the media but in the news gotten from his X social media account he said :
“Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s statement is unfortunate. I sincerely hope he was misquoted. Let me just quote our respected Wole Soyinka: “you can take the hippopotamus out of the swamp but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus”.