Dame Jonathan not working for Sylva’s election – Group

The President of the Rivers Patriotic Vanguard, Dr. Bright Numofagha, has said it was a figment of the imagination of those who alleged that wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, recently met former Niger Delta militants, headed by Chief Ateke Tom, in Okrika, Rivers State to discuss modalities for supporting the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the inconclusive governorship election in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Numofagha said at no time did such happen,.
The group describe the purported meeting as untrue.
Speaking at a media roundtable in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Sunday, Numofagha stated that Dame Jonathan, who is the Chair of the group’s Board of Trustees, had at no time contemplated giving any kind of support to Sylva.
He described the rumoured support and meeting with Tom and his group as “ridiculous and unfounded”.
He stated that those peddling the “falsehood” should have known that it was impossible for Dame Jonathan to support any other candidate against the choice of her husband, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in his home state of Bayelsa than the Peoples Democratic Party’s flag bearer and incumbent, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson
The group therefore urged the general public to disregard the rumoured endorsement of Sylva by Dame Jonathan.
It described it as the desperate attempt by the APC in Bayelsa State and its candidate to ride on the goodwill of the Jonathans in Bayelsa State to manipulate the outcome of the supplementary governorship election in the state, scheduled for January 9, 2016.
The group advised Sylva to accept the decision of the people of Bayelsa State as expressed during the December 5, 2015 election, where Governor Dickson currently maintains a clear lead in six of the seven local government areas of the state in which results have already been declared in the election.
Dr. Numofagha also urged the people of Bayelsa State to remain peaceful and law abiding and never succumb to any form of violence and intimidation that the expected engagements of known militants and political thugs by the Bayelsa State APC may have been intended to achieve.