By Danlami Nmodu
Bayelsa state Governor Seriake Dickson has dismissed insinuations that he has suddenly become a tyrant in the run up to the gubernatorial elections in his state.
Answering questions from the State House Press Corps after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, the governor described himself as a democrat.He alluded to the fact many of his lieutenants were allowed to vie for offices without being molested, a development he said some states would not tolearate. According to the governor, allowing his aides to run for the office of their such was the hallmark of his democratic nature.
The governor claimed that he is actually closer to his people.One major proof of this, he said, is that he has direct contact with stakeholders in most the communities in the state. ‘That is why they call me country man’ he said.
Dickson further claimed that the opposition gubernatorial candidate his state stands no chance of winning the forthcoming election.
Speaking on the preparations for the
election in the state, the governor said, “You know Bayelsa was known for
restiveness and militancy prior to my ascension as governor. Working with
security agencies; working with opinion leaders, working with all strata of
people and leaders in the state, Bayelsa has been stabilized.
“It is clearly one if the stable states in the Niger Delta if not the most
stable and peaceful state in Nigeria. Bayelsa, by the way is safer, more stable
than FCT.
“So, we are concerned about maintaining the current momentum of stability which is a necessary precondition for any kind of development and talking about development in all spheres, in the mast close to eight years, I and my team in Bayelsa have advanced the frontiers of development.
“My call back home to all politicians and parties, to all institutions of government, particularly the INEC and the security agencies is that all hands must literally be on deck. We have had very unfortunate instances where in elections you see unnecessary violence, carnage and brigandage, maiming and displacement of people. In Bayelsa, we have IDPs.
“There are people, innocent, peaceful women and children and people who were chased away by the militia boldly supported by some security agencies and some political actors who kill and have federal government support and cover; who know they cannot win any election if we are to rely on votes of the people.
“That is the situation in some communities and those concerns have always been raised. So, we call for free fair and credible and above all peaceful governorship election.
“I am not on the ballot this time and I have always said that myself as the leader of the PDP and the leader of the leading opposition party who is a minister lead the charge and work together for a peaceful free and credible election. We as a state and our party available, and appreciate that and will continue to support all to achieve peaceful election.
Addressing the attempt to reconcile aggrieved PDP members, he said “Politics is about management of dissent; management of interests that are conflicting and also management of egos because you are dealing with human brings and we are managing all of these. My specialty us reconciliation and I’m leading the reconciliation efforts and we are also getting stakeholders at different levels, at the state levels to do that. Even at the national level we are doing so. In Bayelsa state PDP is the largest, biggest and the most formidable political platform.
“When you have such large platform and you have about twenty something people aspiring, you will expect that at the end of the day when one person inevitably wins, this issue will be there. Compared to the other side which didn’t have the luxury of having a credible primary, a candidate was brought out from the pocket of the leader of the party; a candidate that is not sellable; a candidate that we all know can’t govern, so for us the election is already won. Won by us and lost on the other side.”
