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Tag: Bayelsa poll

  • APC’ll win Bayelsa poll with Alaibe, says PDP chief

    A stalwart of Bayelsa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Tony Ile, has said the alleged undemocratic actions of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson have opened the leeway for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the December 5 governorship election.

    Ile, who recently resigned from Dickson’s government, said the PDP would lose to the APC, if the progressives allow the former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, to fly its flag.

    The PDP chieftain, who spoke in Yenagoa, the state capital, noted that by foreclosing the ambitions of other aspirants to pave the way for Dickson to emerge as the sole candidate, PDP had again committed an error, similar to what sent it packing from the centre.

    Ile said: “The issue of imposition and lack of internal democracy is unfortunately still going on in the PDP. We have refused to learn from our recent mistakes.”

    The PDP chieftain, who is a member of the party’s Unity Group (PUG), noted that Dickson could not match Alaibe.

    He said the campaigns against Alaibe by the governor’s camp were borne out of the fear that he was becoming APC’s leading aspirant. Ile wondered why a former President, who was expected to promote unity in the party and play a fatherly role, publicly endorsed one aspirant.

    The PDP stalwart said Jonathan’s public endorsement of Dickson and PDP’s decision to disqualify other aspirants, like Senator Paulker and Ebitimi Diangoli, nailed the coffin of the party in the state.

     

  • Bayelsa poll: Rep leads Dickson’s campaign team

    A members of the House of Representatives, Chief Fred Agbedi, is leading the campaign team of Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, tagged the Restoration Campaign Organisation.

    Inaugurating the 13-member team on Tuesday, Dickson charged them to use their wealth of experience and work for his victory in the December 5 governorship election.

    Commissioning the campaign the campaign office at Yenizue-Gene in Yenagoa, the governor assured the team of his support and advised them to act as the campaign directors in their different localities.

    He said members of the team were carefully selected based on their pedigree and after consultation with leaders and elders of the party.

    He described them as political juggernauts and tested tacticians in their own rights.

    Emphasizing on the task ahead, Dickson stressed that, the government is not playing with the campaign, as it is about the integrity and dignity of the state.

    He said: “The government will stand with you, be with you as you use your wealth of experience to bear on the job of restoration because your families have donated you to the course of restoration.

    “You were carefully selected after consultation with leaders and elders of the party. The state is not playing about the campaign, as it is about the integrity and dignity of the state and the Ijaw nation.”

    In his remarks, the former Governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, harped on the need for the newly inaugurated members to be united, dogged, determined and courageous.

    He insisted that none of the political parties have any agenda for the Ijaw nation, adding that the team is formidable with experienced people to win the forthcoming political battle.

    In his acceptance speech, Agbedi promised that members of the team will not disappoint in the discharge of their duties.

     

  • Sylva joins Bayelsa governorship race

    Sylva joins Bayelsa governorship race

    … Submits nomination form

    Former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timiprieye Silva, on Monday made a last minute entrance into the state governorship race when he submitted his nomination and expression of interest forms at the All Progressive Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja.

    There have been speculations about Silva’s interest in the race with many saying he is still undecided between the choice of contesting the APC primary or going for a national appointment.

    Addressing journalists after submitting his form, the former governor accused former president, Goodluck Jonathan of constituting himself into an opposition to his government since he was elected as governor of the state in 2007.

    He said despite the opposition from the Presidency, he was able to deliver some quality projects to the people of the state but were not consummated before he was ousted by “impunity and wickedness in high places.”

    Dickson said, “There is always a driving force behind an ambition. For me, it is very simple. I went into Bayelsa government house in 2007 under very difficult circumstances, having a central government that was interested in ousting me from day one.

    “If you noticed, from day one when I entered government house in 2007, the vice president as he then was, was the head of my opposition. When all the state apparatus is summoned to run you out of office, it was a very uphill task. But despite that, we were undaunted and we carried on.

    “I went into Bayelsa state at the height of the militancy problem and a few years into my government, I was able to design a strategy which I called the triple e- strategy that led to the end of militancy in the Niger Delta and I can single handedly take credit for that and even my opponents will not begrudge me on that.

    “I also went ahead to do a lot of roads. No other governor in the history of the state can say he has done more roads in Yenogoa city than I did. The senatorial roads leading to Okporoma, I started it and also started the road leading to Brass. In the area of power, what we did in power was seen by all.

    “As at 2012, we were poised to celebrate in 2013 one year of uninterrupted power supply in Yenogoa city, I had installed turbans and there is a turban that was 93 percent completed when I was ousted.

    “The outgoing government refused to commission it because they did not want me to take credit for it. I built a hospital that would have been one of the best in Nigeria and was to be commissioned in May 2012. The outgoing government has refused to go near that hospital since I was ousted.”

     

  • Bayelsa poll: PDP aspirants urge Jonathan to be neutral

    Two aspirants in the Bayelsa State governorship race, Senator Paulker Emmanuel and Mr. Reuben Okoya have appealed to former President Goodluck Jonathan to maintain neutrality in the upcoming election.

    Emmanuel and Okoya made the plea on Monday when they came to submit their nomination papers at the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja.

    In separate interviews with journalists shortly after they submitted their documents, the aspirants said by virtue of being a former president, Jonathan ought to play the role of a father to all the aspirants in the race.

    Their plea came against the backdrop of claims by Governor Seriake Dickson that the former president and his wife were backing his re-election bid, claims that neither Jonathan nor his wife had refuted.

    Okoya said, “Former president Jonathan is a father to all of us, as such he should not be seen to be supporting one of his children against others in the upcoming governorship election.

    “We are counting on his neutrality as a father and statesman and I am very sure he is not going to disappoint us by taking sides with one of us. The PDP has assured us of a level play field and we expect the former president to do the same for all of us.”

    Echoing Okoya’s position, Senator Emmanuel also expressed the same sentiments, saying the former president would not work against the interest of any of the aspirants in the race.

    “I am not here to discuss who the former president is supporting. He is our father and we believe he loves his children equally. So I will not subscribe to the view that he is supporting one aspirant against the others,” he stated.

    The two aspirants said they were not in any way intimidated by Governor Dickson’s presence in the race, saying they have refused to see themselves as underdogs in the race.

  • Tribunal orders INEC to allow AD inspects materials

    The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Wednesday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release electoral materials used for the just-concluded House of Assembly elections to the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

    The tribunal said the party should inspect and analyse the materials to enable it prove its case that the House of Assembly election did not take place.

    Justice Ononeze Madu gave the order while adjudicating a case filed by the AD candidate for Southern Ijaw Constituency 4, Mr. Victor-Ben Eredei.

    Ruling on the exparte motion brought by the applicant’s lawyer, M.J Numa, Madu ordered that INEC should release all the polling materials.

    She said the materials should include ballot papers, copies of the EC8 series and electronic print out from the Central Data Base of accredited voters obtained through the card readers used for the conduct of the election in the area.

    Moving the motion exparte earlier, Numa, sought the order of the tribunal to compel INEC to allow the party inspect the election materials used for the conduct of the April 11 State Assembly election in the constituency.