"President Goodluck Jonathan Lied" - Sylva

Apparently angry at the comments of President Goodluck Jonathan against him and his administration during a rally organised by PDP on Friday in Bayelsa, former Gov. Timipre Sylva in a daring move on Saturday said the President “goofed and told lies.”

During the rally, the President specifically accused Sylva of...

abandoning a five-star Tower Hotel project at the level he (Jonathan) left it as the governor, adding that the project had become a monumental disgrace to the state.

But in a statement signed by his media aide, Sylva said it was sad that Jonathan would publicly justify stone-throwing which he said was carried out by a few misguided elements.

He said if stone throwing was an indication of non-performance, the president had fallen short of international standard as he was stoned by protesters in Uganda.

“Let us state that it was not the governor who was disgraced by the stoning. Instead, it was the president himself. Now, if stoning is a yardstick for non-performance, are we also right to say that the burning down of the president’s house in 2007, in the run-up to that year’s general elections, was also an act of rejection by the people of the state?" the former government stated.

He concluded that Mr. President’s statements on Friday had confirmed wide speculations that he was the brain behind his (Sylva's) travails, particularly his disqualification from contesting the party primary on November 19, 2011.