Ex-militant leader, General Africa, has said reports about a quarrel between him and the state Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, were fabricated. Africa accused the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate for the December 5, 2015 governorship election in the state, Governor Seriake Dickson, of sponsoring the “fictitious and malicious story”.

He said the story was a futile attempt by PDP to score cheap points ahead of the poll.

A statement in Abuja by Africa reads: “My attention has been drawn to a story being circulated in the media by the Peoples Democratic Party to the effect that I was involved in an altercation or fracas with my party leader and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva. The story is fictitious and malicious. At no time did such an incident happen between the APC leader and me or between him and any other member of APC.

“Chief Sylva is the APC leader and my leader, and he has the complete loyalty and support of the entire APC family in Bayelsa State. I have no reason to disrespect him or doubt his leadership of our great party. Neither does our chairman, Chief Tiwe Oruminigbe, whose name was also used in the lie circulated by PDP in their desperation to ridicule APC and try to score cheap political points.

“The attempt to sponsor negative rumours about our governorship candidate, Chief Sylva, is, to all intents and purposes, the only campaign message and strategy of PDP and its jittery candidate, Hon. Seriake Dickson. But it is a huge joke that cannot save the drowning governor and his party from a crushing defeat on December 5. The distractive pursuit by PDP will never succeed in dividing APC in Bayelsa State or distract its attention from the goal of rescuing Bayelsa from PDP’s regime of deception.”