Bayelsa group cautions EFCC against persecuting Sylva

 
A group of youths from Bayelsa State, Monday, cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against further persecution of a former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva.
The youths, who were reacting to a fresh 50-count charge slammed on Sylva by the EFCC, described the new charges as orchestrated political persecution against the former governor.
The youth group, the Bayelsa Democratic Front, BDF, in a statement signed by its President-General, Chief Promise Okpoebi, argued that EFCC was being used by Sylva’s detractors to deny him his rightful place in the All Progressive Congress government.

According to the group, Sylva’s enemies were stunned to see the former governor’s political comeback at a time they thought he would never rise again, praising the judiciary for showing great courage to uphold justice and the integrity of the courts, “despite obvious pressure, when it recently dismissed the EFCC charges against Sylva.”
The group frowned at the decision of the EFCC to resume the case at the court that dismissed it, adding that such shows signs of dangerous desperation.
The statement reads in part: “Many politicians in the country – both serving and former – have pending EFCC cases. Why is the case of Sylva being treated this way? This is a desperate attempt to scuttle his political career.
“When the charges against Sylva were withdrawn by EFCC, they claimed it was President Muhammadu Buhari that ordered them to do so. And when the charges were finally dismissed, they said Buhari influenced it. Now that the charges have been brought up again, where is Buhari’s hand in all these?”
The youths, described as abnormal the exclusion of Sylva’s former Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Silva Opuala-Charles, from the new suit by EFCC, saying the action was a further confirmation that the whole scheme was targeted at deliberately hurting Sylva rather than uncovering and redressing corruption.
“If EFCC was, indeed, intent on fighting corruption afresh, how on earth could it not include in the new charge the Commissioner for Finance, Silva Opuala-Charles, who ran the finances of the state and was a defendant in a previous case, before he was discharged?”
“What has become clear in the case of Sylva is that EFCC is not fighting corruption, it is simply fighting the political career of the former governor.
“We must separate the war against corruption from politics if we are to reap the legally desired benefits of the anti-corruption campaign and ensure the financial discipline that the country needs badly,” the group stated.