The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has denied the allegation that he took money from International Oil Companies (IOCs), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) or agencies within his ministry for the sake of the recent governorship elections in h some state, Bayelsa.

A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Coalition for Transparency and Democratic Leadership, had recently called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the alleged $30 million used by Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2019 Bayelsa gubernatorial elections.

Responding to the allegation by the coalition on Thursday, Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to Sylva, Julius Bokoru, challenged the group “to produce evidence of its strange allegations.”

On the allegation that the former Bayelsa governor acquired a certain facility to prosecute the elections, Bokoru said that it is “by far the pettiest and most preposterous. Comical even, if you look at it without the bile of its engineers”.

“Further investigation further revealed that the purported leader of the group doesn’t seem to have any digital footprint save for publications that seems to suggest he was arrested by the EFCC for claiming to be a prophet and duping a victim the sum of N2.6 million,” Bokoru said.

He called on journalists to confirm and authenticate their stories before publication “as journalism is a noble profession and there is an enormous number of Nigerians practising it with integrity and value.”

“It is shocking this story did not end at gossip blogs, where all unfounded, malicious and obviously fabricated story belong,” Bokoru added.