Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has accused President Bola Tinubu of misamanaging the nation’s economy.
Sylva in a recent media publication released by one of his spokesperson, Dr John Idumange, said Tinubu’s economic policies are slowly tearing the country apart with high inflation rate and an unprecedented level of poverty.
The former Bayelsa governor attributed the current economic woes to Tinubu’s “poorly constituted cabinet riddled with scandals”, saying, “Nigerians are now in frying pan and our only prayer is that we should not be dumped in the inferno”.
Sylva insisted that the policies of Tinubu are anti-people and cannot engineer the needed growth and development as well as ease hunger and poverty.
But a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa, Tombra Williams, while reacting to the development, said the outburst of Sylva was shocking but explained his level of frustration following his recent defeat in the Bayelsa governorship election.
Williams alleged that Sylva’s latest media war is to rubbish Tinubu because of the president’s refusal to use Federal might to realize his governorship ambition.
The PDP chieftain noted that such tirade was aimed at discrediting the Tinubu administration while in real sense the current challenges bedevilling the country was a creation of the last administration which Sylva was a major player.
He stated that as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Sylva failed to make the nation’s refinery work, which the present government is doing, among other anomalies in his four years stint.
Williams added that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which Sylva flaunts as one of his achievements, did not meet the expectations of people of the Niger Delta, particularly the percentage allocated to host communities.
The PDP chieftain maintained that Sylva does not have the moral justification to criticize the Tinubu administration as it inherited an almost comatose economy.
“It is worrisome to see statements credited to the spokesperson of Chief Timipre Sylva accusing the Bola Tinubu administration of being responsible for our current economic woes. It is not only worrisome but also irresponsible on their part.
“It is surprising that Sylva has forgotten he was part of the Muhammadu Buhari administration that has set us back by over 20 years. As Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, he failed to live up to expectations which contributed to his abysmal outing in the last governorship election.
“Let Sylva be remorseful because his four years in office did not attract the expected benefits to people of the Niger Delta. If anyone should criticize Tinubu, it is certainly not him.”