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Newswatch: Are you satisfied with the level of development in the state today under the leadership of Timipre Sylva?

Engozu: Bayelsa, as we see it today, is not what we dreamt of when we were fighting for its creation. Our dream then was a state that would be the envy of other states in the federation in terms of good governance, provision of infrastructural facilities and a state where the people would feel the impact of their oil wealth. But today, Sylva has turned Bayelsa into a place of abject poverty and underdevelopment.

He has run Bayelsa down. He is a failure and so I advise him not to even contest the 2012 governorship election. If he does, he will be disgraced at the polls because Bayelsa people will vent their anger on him.

Newswatch: You said that Sylva has failed the state in terms of good governance. But a few days ago when he returned to Yenagoa from Abuja where he went to submit his nomination form for the governorship election, he was given a rousing reception by the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON, which also endorsed him for second term along with members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly? How do you reconcile that with what you are saying?

Engozu: We are not strangers to what happens in governance in Africa. In Libya, Gaddafi was a terror to his people, yet some people still dined and wined with him. That is what is happening as far as ALGON and their endorsement of Sylva is concerned. Who are the members of ALGON? What integrity do they have in their communities? During the reception organised by ALGON, the maximum number of the people that were there were about 1,500. So, if Bayelsa is 1.7 million, it means that only a minority of people who have joined him in looting the state treasury organised that reception. It is clear that the masses are vehemently opposed to his second-term bid.

That explains why sachet water packs were thrown at him in October, last year, at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex when he brought President Goodluck Jonathan to Yenagoa to commission fraudulently re-packaged projects.

Newswatch: Could you name some of these projects?

Engozu: Frankly, there is no meaningful project that Sylva has initiated and completed since he assumed office. For instance, the 500-bed general hospital in Yenagoa was initiated by Alamieyeseigha. The current president brought it to the level of about 80 percent completion. Then, Sylva came in and broke the tiles which he said were infected with virus and used it to award phony contracts running into billions of Naira, yet it has not been completed after four years.

The Tower Hotel, which is a five - star hotel, was initiated by the current president. Today, it is still at the level where he left it. Sylva has not added one block to it. There is a bridge across the Ikolo Creek which links Southern Ijaw with other parts of Ogbia local government area. That bridge was built by the current president. Today, the surroundings that were not done are still like that and erosion is gradually chopping it off. I have not seen any capital project initiated by Sylva. The Peace Park was initiated by the Jonathan administration when he was the state governor and built to an extent. The judiciary complex was initiated by Alamieyeseigha.

Then, you go to the Gateway Road which was initiated by the current president when he was governor and Sylva did not add a single kilometre to it, yet he presented it for commissioning during the visit of the late President Yar’Adua. Jonathan’s intention was to take that road straight to the Government House. What Sylva did was to restructure the road and asked Yar’Adua to come and commission it. It is not his project. The road was to go from Nembe to Brass, and Okpoama, Sylva’s community.Those roads have not been done the way they ought to. The 14-kilometre road in Amasoma has not been completed for more than four years.

He demolished the structure at the Bishop Dimerei Memorial Grammar School, Yenagoa, which is the first secondary school in Bayelsa State and for more than four years he has not completed rebuilding it. In the past few weeks, he has been battling to see how he could complete the project just to make unsuspecting people believe that he is working. He also closed down the Bayelsa State College of Art and Science, BICAS. He sold the Assembly and Commissioners’ quarters built by Alamieyeseigha. Recently, he built few houses which he calls Assembly and Commissioners’ quarters which are substandard. He claimed that he was building 52 internal roads. But the quality of those roads is very poor. They are very narrow and without drainage system. Many of them are already in a deplorable condition and almost impassable.

We are yet to see what Sylva has used the billions of Naira he has received from the federation account to do for Bayelsa State. It is a pity that a young man can be at the helm of affairs in Bayelsa and destroy it. And to worsen the ugly situation, he has taken a lot of loans despite the fact that so much money has come into the state under his administration.

Newswatch: How much does Bayelsa get monthly from the federation account?

Engozu: These days Bayelsa gets between N18 and N20 billion monthly. In the past three months, Bayelsa has received over N70 billion from the federation account yet the state capital has remained a glorified village. We are holding meetings and mapping out strategies to ensure he is voted out in the 2012 election. We are enlightening Bayelsa people to realise that we all have an opportunity to stop the madness that people call governance in Bayelsa State under Sylva. We are poised to join hands to form a formidable mass movement irrespective of our political leanings to chase Sylva out of Government House so that sanity could be restored to Bayelsa. Enough is enough!

Newswatch: So far, many formidable aspirants like Henry Seriake Dickson, a member of the House of Representatives, Timi Alaibe, former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and others have picked the PDP nomination form, to challenge Sylva. Considering the incumbency factor, do you think any of them can upstage Sylva?

Engozu: We will chose a consensus candidate from among them and mobilise Bayelsa people to vote Sylva out if he decides to go ahead and vie for the  2012 governorship election.