Timipre Sylva, the state’s Minister for Petroleum Resources has revealed that David Lyon’s running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, who was disqualified by the court and caused the nullification of their Governorship candidacy for Bayelsa State, is on the verge of committing suicide.
Timipre Sylva, a former Governor of Bayelsa State, made this known during a live program on Channels Television’s called “Sunrise Daily”.
Sylva has described the judgment of the supreme court that nullified the election of APC candidates David Lyon and his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo as a matter of life and death.
Timipre disclosed that he now pays a constant visit to Degi-Eremienyo as the APC running mate for Bayelsa Guber has been traumatized over the judgment of the supreme court.
He also said that the Deputy-Governor elect was not guilty of what he was accused of.
According to him, he said:
“Anybody that says it is not a matter of life and death doesn’t really understand the issue.
“I’m today, dealing with a former deputy governor that is on the verge of committing suicide. Every day I have to call to be sure that he hasn’t done anything to himself.
“If you were here and somebody just said you forged your certificate, you built your life on that integrity and somebody–seven people, five people, all of a sudden bring everything down, that can actually lead to suicide.
“You’re now stigmatised for life as having forged your certificate.
“If you have a case in court challenging the authenticity of the certificate of a candidate, that is a different problem, but if you say you’re going to establish forgery and you have not heard from the person concerned, then you have not established anything.
“You haven’t gone to school or university where this person studied to confirm the veracity of the certificate and from paper evidence, you condemn such a person, it’s really very sad and for me, it is very dangerous.
“Forgery is supposed to be a criminal offence and when you have this kind of situation you have to come out and correct the impression. There was no forgery here at all. There were just variants of the name on the certificate and the Supreme Court went ahead to uphold the judgment of a lower court.”
He also asked the residents and indigenes of the state to not blame Degi-Eremienyo for the loss brought upon the party
“We are also saying that the Supreme Court has introduced extraneous things to that judgment. That judgment said that the deputy governor had been disqualified, but that judgment did not disqualify the governorship candidate.
“Supreme Court went ahead and disqualified the governorship candidate. Where did that come before the court because you don’t give what was not asked?
“We’re not saying that the Supreme Court erred, were saying that they overlooked certain things.”
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