Sylva has no evil plans against Jonathan, Diri — MacIver

The running-mate to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded November 11th, 2023, off-cycle governorship election in Bayelsa State, Great Joshua MacIver, has assured Bayelsans that his principal, Chief Timipre Sylva, has no intention to cause any harm to the former president of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.

MacIver stated this while reacting to a statement by Jonathan when he visited the incumbent and governor-elect of the state, Senator Douye Diri, in Government House, Yenagoa, where he said that he would have relocated his mother to Abuja if Senator Diri had lost the governorship election.

Sylva’s running mate, in a statement issued in Yenagoa, said that Dr Jonathan’s comment about his intentions to relocate his mother to Abuja if Diri had lost the governorship election cannot in any way suggest that Chief Sylva has any intention to harm the governor-elect of the state.

Parts of his statement read, “It is with a deep sense of concern that I, Great Joshua MacIver, Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa State, address the endorsement of Governor Douye Diri by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“In a manner that departs from the expected statesmanship, I find it disheartening that Jonathan, in a state where his role should be fatherlike and non-partisan to all candidates, has chosen to endorse a specific individual during a political season.

“Furthermore, I express my reservations regarding the former president’s statement about the planned relocation of his mother to Abuja had Governor Douye Diri lost the governorship election. This public speech, openly demarketing Bayelsa State as unsafe and insecure, is a sentiment that should not be voiced by someone of his stature.

“Sadly, Jonathan’s recent action has made him lose the respect of all true followers of the former Minister of State Petroleum Resources and APC Governorship Candidate in the last election, Chief Timipre Marlin Sylva.”