Mike ODIEGWU, Yadenagoa
UNDOUBTEDLY, the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, is one of the politicians to watch in the New Year. First, the governor is expected to hand over to his successor on February 14, 2020, the Valentine’s Day. He will cease to be a ‘valentine’ governor, an appellation he had enjoyed for about eight years.
Then, he will no longer be addressed as the governor of the state. He will become a former governor. The crowd that usually follows him will significantly thin out; and whenever he coughs, nobody will catch cold any longer.
In fact, Dickson after February 14, will no longer have the privilege of superintending over the billions of petrol Naira allocated to Bayelsa monthly. That is the nature of power, very transient.
It will be a historic transition in the oil-rich state. For the first time since the return of democracy in 1999, the administrative baton of the state will depart from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for an opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Obviously, Dickson is still fighting vigorously to vacate the ugly narrative. So, in the new year, the governor prior to his handover will continue to explore legal measures to stop the crowning of the APC and its governor-elect, Chief David Lyon, as the new Sheriff in town.
Already, Dickson has bared his fangs on multiple litigations to stop the APC and Lyon from taking over the state.
Accusing fingers were pointed at him when the Federal High Court, in a controversial judgement, two days to the November 16 governorship election, held that the APC had no candidate.
It was a case between a former Minister of Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, versus David Lyon and the APC.
While Lokpobiri in all his prayers asked the court to declare him a winner of the APC governorship primary that produced Lyon, the court went beyond his prayers and held that the APC didn’t conduct a valid primary election; hence, the party had no candidate for the election.
The governor is still waiting in the wings to see the outcome of the judgment at the Court of Appeal. Already, the Court of Appeal has reversed a pre-election judgment delivered by a Federal High Court in Abuja disqualifying the deputy governor-elect of the APC, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, on the allegations that he supplied false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The governor is said to be urging the plaintiffs to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
Besides, Dickson and the PDP have approached the governorship election petition tribunal challenging the victory of the APC and Lyon at the poll.
By all indications, Dickson will be busy in the earlier part of the new year exploring all the legal options to terminate the victory of the APC and ensure the PDP retains Bayelsa.
In fact, there is no gainsaying that life after the Government House will be a challenging experience for Dickson.
Having controlled Bayelsa for eight years and going down in history as the first governor to have done two tenures in the oil-rich state, Dickson had become used to calling the shots at all fronts, receiving myriads of visitors, being guarded by a crowd of armed security operatives, receiving and dispensing billions of monthly revenue allocated to and generated by the state among other enticing and dignifying pecks of office.
Indeed, no job will be as a eventful as that of being a governor. But Dickson is a man of many parts. He is a man blessed with oratorical skills.
He may get busy delivering speeches in his usual flowery dictions within and outside the country. The governor may enroll for further studies to become a lecturer and dedicate the rest of his life impacting knowledge.
Beyond playing active political roles, Dickson is a lawyer by training and has the wherewithal to float a legal chamber and engage in legal practice. But there are indications that the governor is not planning to quit active politics.
He may either remain in PDP or port to the APC. He also has the capacity and the experience to initiate a fresh political movement that will be a force to reckon with in Bayelsa.
Unknown to many people outside Bayelsa, Dickson is also a great farmer. He owns big farms in Bayelsa and Abuja and engages in fish production, poultry and production of cash crops.
His newly developed farm at his Toru-Orua country home recently became a beehive as politicians and his aides, including journalists, visited the massive farmland.
Prior to the election, Dickson spoke of his desire to return to his village and begin commercial farming after his tenure as a governor. He said he had been investing in farms years before he became a governor.
He said: “The farm here (in Toru-Orua) is about 25 to 30 hectares. It is not too big but I intend to make full use of it. You can see the large fish pond under construction.
There will be a poultry here. There will be a piggery here and a ranch for cattle. The one in Yenagoa, Yenegwe, I have about 30 hectares too. I have always had that from the early 20s, 2001, 2002. My farm in Abuja is about a 100 hectares”.
“My fish farms are very large. I have the largest fish farm in the state, hundreds of thousands of fingerlings and matured fish. We are constructing the preservation systems.
We want to be able to preserve them for long to sell and package because there are thousands of big fish of all kinds in my pond. The ponds are like lakes.
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“So, we have been producing and selling; we have banana, mango, pineapples, oranges and so on. But my main focus is going to be aquaculture, poultry, piggery, cattle.
I am a herdsman, an Ijaw herdsman who does cattle rearing in a confined environment, ranching and that’s what we recommend to everybody”.
In fact, the governor desired to return to farming after the expiration of his tenure on February 14, 2020. Speaking further about his Toru-Orua farm and his future plans, he said: “I started this farm a long time ago. I haven’t really had time to prepare it and I am getting ready to do so. When I finish, I will be into full-time farming.
“Let me underscore the importance of investing in agriculture. First, to be able to provide what we eat and secondly, to be able to create jobs and create wealth and each of us, no matter how highly placed, should be in a position to add to the investment in agriculture and sometimes, it doesn’t take too much. You can all go to your communities, acquire one hectare, two hectares and plant something.
“Luckily, our country is so well endowed that in every part, we can at least plant one crop or another. So, for me, agriculture is very paramount if we are serious about creating a sustainable economy and if we are serious about creating jobs. By so doing, we provide food sufficiency for ourselves.
“In this farm, I plant almost everything; for the past two, three years, we have actually been harvesting a lot of banana, a lot of plantain, a lot of cucumber, a lot of pineapples, everything here and you have all joined me to harvest sugarcane and I have just formally inducted you all into my farm for which I am grateful. So this is to encourage you all to tell the story of agriculture.
“I intend to stay here in my community and my farm in Yenagoa so that I can make most of these investments to create jobs and also make profit. Farming is very profitable. We cannot meet our needs for pigs and eggs in this state and even other poultry products.
We import everything. Everything is brought into Bayelsa. So, farming is a good thing to go into and those who have gone into it have no regrets”.
He further spoke of other interests beyond farming. He said: “Age is still on my side and I have a lot of passion. Writing is one and teaching is another.
I will likely go back to school. I will like to be involved in teaching, carrying out research on studies about my deep experiences in governance”.
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