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  • Dickson vows to improve security, agric as he takes second term oath

    Dickson vows to improve security, agric as he takes second term oath

    At about 1pm, yesterday, the Valentine’s Day, Bayelsa State Governor. Seriake Dickson took the Oath of allegiance and the Oath of Office to begin his second term.

    Dickson said his new term would focus on economic diversification, rural electrification scheme, massive investment in power to drive industrialization, youth empowerment and investment in agriculture.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, who recently attended a thanksgiving ceremony organised in Port Harcourt by Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, were absent at Dickson’s swearing-in and thanksgiving service.

    But governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), members of the National Assembly, the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC), the party’s Board of Trustee (BoT) members, traditional rulers and many stalwarts of the party witnessed the event at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenagoa.

    Some of the PDP governors in attendance were Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Emmanuel Udom (Akwa Ibom), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Dairus Ishaku (Taraba) and Dankwambo Ibrahim (Gombe).

    The 2015 PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Mr. Leo Ogori and a host of other dignitaries attended.

    Chief Judge Justice Kate Abiri administered the oaths on the governor and his deputy John Jonah

    Speaking after the traditional parade by the Police, Dickson said his victory was a testimony that the Ijaw nation had never been conquered.

    “My victorious people of the Ijaw Nation who like our fathers before us have shown that this great and proud land of good and great people can never be conquered.

    “The electoral contest for the governorship of our state will undoubtedly go into the annals of Nigerian political history as a reference point both for study and inspiration on how a people can rise to defend their democratic rights and dignity against forces of desperation and oppression”, he said.

    He said having roundly defeated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, it would be foolhardy for some persons to think they could upturn his victory through the back door at the court.

    He said: “This should send a clear message to those who think that a man who lost in seven out of eight LGAs in full glare of the world can somehow snatch victory through the back door by hoping to manipulate the judicial process just because his party controls the central government.

    “The recent posture and pronouncements of the highest court of the land gives us confidence that such antics and schemes would not succeed.

    “Politicians who seek authority to govern people in our democracy must derive power from the people’s vote freely expressed through the supremacy of the ballot box and not through subterfuge, intimidation, blackmail or manipulation. That is subversion of the constitution itself”.

    The governor said he would not play politics with the security of lives and properties and vowed to consolidate on his administration’s gains on security.

    He said his administration would work with the Federal Government to tackle kidnappers, cultists and other criminals who vandalised national economic assets.

    He said the terms of the partnership should hing on the principles that no government officials should use their position to encourage or facilitate crimes.

    “Similarly, security officials at federal or state levels should not be intimidated from executing their statutory functions for fear of retribution. Nobody, regardless of political persuasion should be allowed to subvert national institutions or undermine the security and stability of the State or the Nation.

    “Our experience in Bayelsa State in the recent past has shown a tendency to misconstrue membership of the political party at the center as cover and license to kill, maim and destroy while security officials look on helplessly. Let us not allow partisanship to slide our country into anarchy. The consequences will be too grave”, he said.

    He called on opposition party members to sheathe their swords and join hands with him to move the state forward.

     

  • On Dickson’s golden jubilee

    On Dickson’s golden jubilee

    Governor Seriake Dickson celebrated his golden jubilee recently, precisely on Thursday, January 28, 2016.  His 50th birthday celebration coincided with the afterglow of his resounding reelection victory, earlier on January 11. Whether the victory was an early birthday present or it capped the providential convergence of two good fortunes is up in the air, a matter of contemplation for those interested in probing the metaphysics of life and the twists of fate. The governor disappointed those who expected him to shut down the state for snagging political gold on his golden birthday. Dickson instead elected a subdued, altruistic celebration that is consistent with his philosophy of life and politics. He visited the orphanage home in Yenagoa to show love to the kids and thereafter held a church thanksgiving in his community -Toru-Urua, in Sagbama Local Government Area.

    Birthdays come and go, what is not certain is how one’s guests would turn out, what one’s strivings would yield by way of outcome. In this sense, it is rare that one gets to celebrate the momentous milestone of 50 years while basking in the biggest political victory of your life. These two events rarely fuse into one continuum of triumph, godly favor, and inexorable destiny as they have so perfectly done in the case of the countryman governor.

    Yet there is nothing accidental about this happy convergence. The two events are intertwined and are two sides of a life predicated on putting people first as constant variable, good personal and social deeds and a life rendered great and meaningful by the Karmic rewards of altruistic commitments. Governor Dickson exemplifies this paradigm of good rewards for good deeds, of sowing and reaping. It is a law embedded in the theological canons and philosophical corpuses of major religions- Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddism, and others.

    The celebration of a significant birthday in the shadow of a historic electoral victory bears out this axiom. Dickson has sown well and he is reaping well. On the personal moral level, he has sown vision, meekness, selflessness, kindness, a capacity to recognize both his strengths and weaknesses, and the humility to let God order his steps.

    Dickson has reaped goodwill in return; a pan-Nigerian network of devoted friends, admirers, and allies. He has reaped opportunities that some only dream of. He has reaped the divine bounty of a good family and excellent health. He has reaped the love of his people, spiritual resilience, uncommon energy, and wisdom.

    On the political side of his life’s ledger, Governor Dickson has sowed service, compassion, excellent leadership, conscientious governance, and a commitment to uplifting the vulnerable members of society. In return, the governor has reaped improbable and spectacular political victories, an adoring political constituency, and a massive firewall of political support. He has reaped the adulation of the people of Bayelsa State, the Ijaw nation, and the entire Niger Delta. He has reaped a deserved reputation as a man of unflinching humanistic convictions and a consensus builder, yet does not compromise his stubborn commitment to democratic principles.

    This is a perfect segue to the event with which we began this reflection: Dickson’s against-all-odds reelection victory. For nothing epitomizes the enduring quality of the law of sowing and reaping than a political triumph, thought impossible by the federal might but made possible by a formidable cache of goodwill banked with voters and compatriots over a long period of unbroken grassroots political service. Let’s be clear then as we celebrate Governor Dickson’s victory as one part of this combo of milestones. The enemies of democracy said he was not supposed to win; he was not expected to win, and, given the ruthless aggression of the adversarial forces pitted against him, should not have won.

    This is elementary political logic consistent with what we know of modern political contests in Nigeria. No candidate in a gubernatorial election should be able to triumph in Nigeria’s peculiar reality of invasive, tyrannical federal might, unless they are aligned with the federal government through the solidarity of party affiliation. Indeed, many feeble politicians in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) have internalized this defeatist logic. They are either preparing to jump ship or have already switched party to insulate themselves from the onslaught of a rampaging ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Dickson’s victory prevented what could have been and was designed to be the first domino to fall in the barely disguised and still active APC plan to overrun the country and the South-South region in particular. The APC’s desperate quest for Bayelsa requires some analytical foregrounding for those who are unfamiliar with the stakes and permutations of Nigeria’s current political configuration.

    The Niger Delta contains the last contiguous bulwark against the one-party ambitions of the APC. It has emerged as the most resilient block of oppositional politics in the country. It is the site where the various efforts to hold the ruling party accountable and nurture a viable alternative has crystallized. The home of Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, Bayelsa is the bastion of this new oppositional energy, which is the only hope for accountable governance in Nigeria but which the APC government regards as a mortal enemy to be vanquished. Bayelsa, moreover, is the political center of gravity of the Ijaw nation, a historically revolutionary entity committed to egalitarianism, justice, and equity. This new image of the glory of all lands were sustained by the restoration government of Dickson, and the next four years will be used to consolidate and concretize the lofty dreams of this visionary Toru-Urua born public servant.

    It is in this broad political context that Governor Dickson’s victory must be understood. It was not a personal political victory, although it was a sweet culmination of a personal political journey. Rather, it was a popular people’s victory. It was a triumph of popular will and the principles of democratic franchise over the conspiratorial machinations of a rapacious and recidivist elite. In other words, Dickson’s re-election was a triumph of people’s will and aspirations over federal might. Dickson’s victory has therefore moved the state decisively towards a democratic culture that is impervious to the manipulation of external interests.

    Dickson stood doggedly between tyranny and democracy, preventing the former from overwhelming the latter. It is no exaggeration, then, to say that Dickson may have saved Nigeria’s democratic pluralism and oppositional vibrancy being the very essence of liberal democracy.

    The election has posited Governor Dickson as the preeminent factor in the reclamation of the Niger Delta from marauding political schemes. Significant as his victory was, it is important to enter an important caveat, namely, that it would not have been possible without God, the people and two other factors – the unprecedented program of holistic infrastructural and human development accomplished by the governor in the last four years, and the extensive grassroots mobilizations that the governor embarked upon as part of his electoral campaign.

    The governor’s scorecard has both breadth and depth: the transformation of the Isaac Adaka Boro Road into a six-lane highway, construction of first ever flyover in Yenagoa, the state capital, construction of over 450 kilometers of roads and 18 bridges across the state, in the last three years; the introduction of free and compulsory education with massive funding; the building, from scratch, of a world class tourism and hospitality sector; an unprecedented program of youth/ women empowerment; social security scheme for the aged, development of large scale agriculture and the establishment of plants for processing cassava into commercial starch. Others are the building of a world class Diagnostic Centre and Drug Mart, construction of five state secretariat annexes, building of Traditional Rulers Secretariat, police officers mess, brand new Government House and VIP lodges, building of hotels, construction of Ecumenical Centre and cargo airport in the Wilberforce Island to enable the state play active role in the Gulf of Guinea, among many other achievements in all sectors. The capstone of this agenda was to reposition the state beyond the volatility of the global oil economy.

    The crowning glory of Dickson’s stewardship in the last four years is that he has systematically rebranded Bayelsa State; brought the world to Bayelsa and taken the world to Bayelsa. So profound is this revolution that the heartland of Ijaw nation has suddenly become the frame of reference in matters of transformative governance. It is this record that proved a fail-safe defense against the federally coordinated electoral offensive against the governor and the PDP in the hotly contested December 5 and the rescheduled January 9, 2016 governorship polls!

    Dickson is not called the countryman governor for nothing. His politics is about the regular citizens – the people in the countryside, in the creeks. He has since identified human beings as the permanent variable in politics. So in his political odyssey and particularly in his re-election bid, the Talk Na Do Governor anchored his campaign on the people that are most physically removed from the glitzy governing precincts of Creek Haven, Yenagoa, the seat of government. Dickson is the first gubernatorial candidate/governor in the state’s history to visit all Bayelsa communities to personally request their support. He is also the first to spend the night in these communities. The governor didn’t just pass through them; he communed with them, breathed their air, ate their food, immersed himself in their realities, and received a personal, intimate introduction to their aspirations and concerns, all of which culminated in the people owning and driving his re-election.

    • Agbo, a Journalist/Public Affairs Commentator based in Yenagoa, wrote in via francisagbo38@gmail.com
  • Bayelsa: Dickson and the challenges ahead

    Bayelsa: Dickson and the challenges ahead

    Following his victory at the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to political observers, will have to confront some fresh challenges in administering the oil-rich state, Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, reports.

    The highly controversial 2015 governorship election in Bayelsa State may have finally been concluded following an earlier inconclusive attempt. But going by the submission of pundits and the implications left behind by some developments that occurred before, during and after the violently contested poll, the task of governing the now highly polarized state may not be an easy one for Governor Seriake Dickson, the man who got the nod of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to continue in office for another term of four years, having polled the highest number of votes in the said election.

    Following the conclusion of the supplementary election held on January 10, 2016, INEC declared Dickson, the incumbent and candidate of the PDP, as the winner of the Bayelsa State governorship election. According to the results, Dickson defeated his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to win the election. While Dickson polled 134,998 votes, Sylva got 86,852 votes. The initial election was held on December 5, 2015.

    Dickson, who has been in charge as the governor of the oil-rich state since 2011, earlier served as a member of the House of Representatives, representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency of the state. In the House of Representatives, he served as the Chairman, House Committee on Justice and also a member of several committees.

    According to Yenagoa-based public commentator and lawyer, Fred Ganpate, the electorate has played its part and has now thrown a challenge to those it defied threats and bad weather in some places to vote for. He said it is now very important for the re-elected governor to fulfill his campaign promises.

    “However, Dickson will have to brace himself for some challenges emanating from the current situation of things in the state. There is no doubt that the people of the state will expect a lot of things from him and quickly too. Given the fact that the people had a variety of options to choose from the last time, the expectation from the man who eventually won is enormous,” he said.

    Gampate cited the dwindling revenue of the state, growing insecurity, youth unemployment and a widely polarized citizenry as some of the challenges currently confronting the re-elected governor. And according to him, “Bayelsans would expect him to hit the ground running in finding solutions to these issues as soon as possible.”

    Dwindling revenue

    In the run up to the last gubernatorial election, Dickson has expressed deep concern over the steady decline in the revenues accruing to the state from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC). He explained that the decline was evident in the less than one billion naira shortfall in the revenue received by the state between August and September, 2015.

    It was a visibly worried Dickson that disclosed that the state received only N5.2 billion for September 2015. He also disclosed that the state received N6.2 billion in the month of August and that the amount from the previous month had dropped to N5.6 billion occasioned by the sharp reduction in prices of crude oil in the international market.

    “You can imagine what would have happened, if we didn’t experience this drastic and sudden drop in our revenue, Bayelsa would have been something else. But we are still not despondent. We are hopeful that by the grace of God, revenues will improve and we will again work together to take our state to the next level,” Dickson said.

    With the FAAC allocation now further dwindled, and given the yearnings of the people of the state for more development as exemplified in their demands from candidates during the last election, pundits say Dickson will have to set about improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base of his state.

    Former spokesperson of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) in the state, Comrade John Duokpolor, said it is now expedient for the governor to stop giving the people the usual excuse of dwindling allocation and find a way of increasing the financial situation of the state so as to be able to give the people the much needed dividends of democracy.

    “As we speak, oil price has crashed from $104 to $38 per barrel. Possibly, it might still crash further with Iran back in the loop and America dangling Shell oil and Shell Gas. So, we must understand that it is not helpful to rely solely on the federal revenue. Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) must be looked into.

    This is not a time for Governor Dickson to cry over dwindling allocation. It is time to generate revenue and meet the needs of the people who voted for him. His re-election amidst so much rancor, controversy and uncertainty places upon him a very serious burden of expectations and duty, and there is no way the people will be satisfied with excuses this time around,” he said.

    To Gampate, the government may have to put on its thinking cap and find ways of getting citizens in the informal sector to contribute to the revenue base of the state as a way of improving the IGR accruable to it.  “The place to look into is the informal sector. That is the sector that is actually untapped and having the capacity to help the state at a time like this. What is accruable from the sector is huge. It is just that nobody is paying attention to it now.

    “But unlike the formal sector, you cannot get anything out of it unless you first encourage the people therein. And the easiest way to encourage the informal sector to keep on paying is to make them feel the impact of your government, because if you go back to collect from them again, they will ask you what you did with the ones they’ve paid; that is usually their response.

    “If you want them to keep paying without blinking an eyelid, just provide amenities for them. Within their locality, fix roads, give them water, if they have problems with getting water to flow from their taps, send them tankers to drop water for them; let them feel the impact of the government. Once these are done, they will pay,” he said.

    Insecurity

    Another challenge Dickson is currently confronted with is insecurity. Headlined by the rising spate of kidnapping and other violent acts, as well as the recent abduction of a serving commissioner and the younger sister of the governor, many residents of the state are calling on the governor to secure lives and properties at all cost.

    Observers are blaming the return of insecurity in the state on the high spate of thuggery and other violent activities associated with the last governorship election in the state. “The last election, in terms of criminal activities, remains the worst in the history of the state. My major fear is that unless these politicians find a way of disarming those they armed during that period, the state may be in for a terrible time,” Duokpolor cautioned.

    Recently, the APC charged Governor Seriake Dickson to brace up to the security challenges instead of blaming it on the opposition. The party urged the governor to live up to the expectation of the people of Bayelsa by performing his most basic responsibility of ensuring the security of lives and property in the state.

    A statement by its spokesman, Nathan Egba, said the party is worried about the increasing rate of violent crime, including kidnappings across the state. The APC called on the security agencies in the state to step up their intelligence and track down all criminal elements within the state.

    The New Bayelsa Movement, a non-political pressure group, last weekend, raised the alarm over growing threats to life and property in some parts of the state. The group called on the governor to urgently confront the threat before more lives are lost to kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal elements in the state.

    In a statement by its President, Titus Ezonfade, and Secretary, Meg Tamunomiebi , the group maintained that it had watched with dismay the increasing number of lives lost to hoodlums every day in the oil-rich state.

    Already, the governor has revealed that his administration had finalized plans to unfold a comprehensive security framework to address the current trend of insecurity across the state. Dickson recently warned that anybody found culpable will be dealt with in accordance with the criminal laws of the state and the country.

    He called on youths in the state not to allow themselves to be used under whatever guise to perpetrate any crime, warning that no one would be spared when caught. Dickson enjoined the people of the state to go about their legitimate duties without any fear of molestation, assuring that security agencies had been put on red alert to track down criminals and their cohorts.

    Fence mending

    Another urgent task before Dickson, according to political analysts, is the need for him to supervise the mending of political fences across the state so as to reduce the widespread division and sectionalization occasioned by the tense politicking experienced in the state during the last governorship election.

    Already, political analysts have commended the governor-elect for extending an olive branch to his opponents in the contest. Upon his victory, Dickson called on those who contested with him but lost to come forward with their programmes and policies and support his administration to move the state forward. With this singular action, many are hoping that in no distance time, the political divides within the state will close ranks and allow peace to reign.

    But Gampate would want to believe that the decision of the opposition APC and its candidate to contest the result of the election at the tribunal may delay the healing of political wounds. “I want to believe that given how tense the contest was, with the battle now moving to the tribunal, the worst is not over yet,” he said.

    Following the declaration of Dickson as the winner of the election, the APC candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, vowed to challenge what he described as the procured victory of the PDP in court. According to him, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Baritor Kpagir, deliberately set up machinery to ensure the return of the PDP candidate and incumbent Dickson.

  • We won’t sack civil servants, says Dickson

    The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, yesterday, said his administration had no plans to sack civil servants in the state.

    Dickson, who spoke through his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), also denied allegations that his government had penciled down over 500 civil servants accused of supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just-concluded governorship election, for sanction.

    Speaking during the monthly Transparency Briefing in Yenagoa, Dickson said the ongoing workers’ verification in the state was not designed to sack civil servants for their stand during the election.

    The governor, however, condemned the action of some civil servants, who he said openly campaigned for political parties during the election.

    While describing such action as wrong and against civil service rule, the governor said that his administration never gave any directive to sanction and stop the salaries of civil servants.

    He said the ongoing verification exercise by an Establishment Committee and the delay in the payment of salaries arose from the continued financial deficit experienced by the government in the payment of salaries.

    He said: “On the issue raised by some 500 workers in the state, to the best of my knowledge and due discussion with Governor Seriake Dickson, there is no plan by the government to retrench any worker.

    “However, we must add that although the partisan posture of some workers during the election was wrong, there is no plan to sanction or retrench anyone over that.

    “The verification being conducted by the Establishment committee is to look inward and examine ourselves as an administration. We are doing this due to the consistent deficit we are experiencing. This is why there is no government official on the committee.

    “We have asked them to help check and also find other ways of raising revenues. If they come out to say, the figures we have is correct, so be it. If they say we have some addition, we will check again. Things at the moment are hard and it is a challenging moment for us as a state.”

    Dickson also announced a deficit spending of N1.713bn in November 2015, saying a total of N4.804bn accrued to the state.

    He noted that over N6.518bn was spent on the payment of salaries for workers and political appointees, overhead costs and loan repayment.

    He said that the deficit and the reluctance of some banks to provide loan facilities to the state because of the governorship election were factors responsible for the delay in the payment of workers’ salaries.

  • Dickson sanctions 500 workers for backing APC

    Dickson sanctions 500 workers for backing APC

    •Governor withholds salaries of affected persons

    There were indications yesterday that the Seriake Dickson-led Bayelsa State government has allegedly compiled the names of 500 workers for punishment for “supporting” the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last December 5 and January 9 governorship polls in the state.

    Besides the punishment, it was learnt that the affected civil servants had not been paid since last October.

    The government is said to be unhappy that the civil servants worked against Dickson’s re-election and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the polls that were marred by widespread violence.

    The government’s action is said to be generating tension with the affected civil servants planning to seek redress in court.

    Dickson was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after defeating former Governor Timipre Sylva of the APC and Moses Siasia of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM).

    It was gathered that the government set up “a special committee” in each of the eight local government areas to monitor the activities of pro-APC civil servants before and during the elections.

    Workers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) within grade levels eight to 17 are said to be affected by the government’s action.

    The order to sanction the “indicted” civil servants was said to have emanated from the committee’s report.

    It was learnt that the names of the affected persons were forwarded to the Due Process Bureau, which operates the automated payroll system of the state government, for appropriate action.

    The directive reportedly emanated from the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) through the Office of the Head of Service (HOS) to the Due Process Bureau.

    The bureau, headed by Dickson’s Special Adviser on Treasury Matters, Mr. Timi Seipulo, was reportedly asked to implement the order.

    It was also gathered that workers in the state’s broadcasting corporation and the sport council were the worst-hit.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, noted that there was a deliberate effort by the government to flush out those considered APC members in the civil service.

    “Right now, a fresh verification of workers is ongoing for this singular purpose. Most of these workers have not received their salaries since October, last year. While pro-PDP workers are receiving their salaries, those perceived to be APC members are not,” the source said.

    One of the affected workers, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said the accountant in his establishment told them their names were missing from the payroll.

     

  • Obuah congratulates Dickson

    The Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has congratulated its Bayelsa State counterpart and Governor Seriake Dickson for winning the recent governorship election.

    A statement from the Chairman, Felix Obuah and signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, said the PDP’s victory over the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a political statement that the PDP remains a grassroots party and the people’s first choice, notwithstanding the politics of intimidation and coercion being employed by the APC to thwart the will of the people.

    Obuah also commended the people of Bayelsa for their steadfastness and resilience, in the face of attempts to silence the voice of the majority, which eventually settled the month-long impasse in favour of the PDP.

    According to the Chairman, all the party wants is a conducive environment and level-playing ground for a keen contest, saying the PDP has what it takes to win in Bayelsa and Rivers any day.

    He enjoined the people of Bayelsa and numerous PDP members to key into the developmental agenda of the Dickson administration for the overall development of the state and also remain vigilant and alert to the APC’s propaganda and antics, so that they would not be deceived.

    The APC, Obuah said, has no plans for the Bayelsa people other than to further impoverish the state by conniving with their paymasters at the centre to liquidate the remaining state resources.

    “We are indeed, proud of your efforts and insistence on your rights to have the kind of leader you want. The Almighty God that heard and granted your prayers will never fail you. The PDP is now wiser and has no alternative but to improve the welfare of the people and the infrastructural development of the state,” Obuah declared.

     

     

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  • Thoughts on Dickson’s victory

    Thoughts on Dickson’s victory

    The victory of the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, in last Saturday’s concluded governorship election hardly comes as a surprise. Indeed, it was a well-deserved victory for Dickson and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) going by the concrete achievements of the governor and his popularity with the ordinary people.

    And true to his personality of a politician of conviction, Dickson cancelled the celebration of his victory in honour of those killed and dedicated his crown to God, Bayelsans who voted and victims of the election violence.

    Self-effacing almost to a point verging on shyness, Governor Dickson doesn’t seem like one who would have chosen politics as a vocation. However, beneath that look lies a steely resolve. It is that gritty spirit, coupled with a yearning for public service, that has helped him navigate the often vicious world of politics.

    Although he has held public office as Chairman of the defunct Alliance for Democracy, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Bayelsa State, member of the House of Representatives from 2007 until early 2012, he mostly kept a low profile and stayed away from the limelight. So he was a largely unknown politician outside his home state until he took the nation by storm with his sponsorship of the amendment of Evidence Act bill, the first ever since 1954. But the old saying that fortune often favours the meek would change all that on February 14, 2012, when he was inaugurated as Bayelsa State governor.

    Some may have viewed Dickson’s triumph then as the predictable outcome of being the candidate of the ruling national party in a president’s home state. But such cynical notion would have been validated if he had lost in the recent gubernatorial election where the implied support from Abuja was totally absent. This victory was despite the fact that some figures within his party were, curiously, bent on frustrating his re-election bid.

    Many of these politicians decamped to the APC while some of them remained in the PDP to give the governor the fight of his life, not because he has not delivered on his campaign promise to Bayelsans but simply because he has refused to service the greed of the elites.

    This in conjunction with the deployment of federal might to capture Bayelsa State by hook or crook made the governorship battle the fierciest in the Niger Delta. But Governor Dickson’s resolute focus on the crown, his community to community campaign on issues, his track record of service delivery and concrete achievements in the last four years, his popularity and organic link with the electorate, the regular citizens who vote were the instruments which kept the APC at bay from Bayelsa.

    Dickson’s victory is therefore a bold reaffirmation that people’s will should always triumph above federal might once a people resolve to stand by their leader.  There is a subtle but poignant point inherent in the triumph: it established Governor Dickson as a preeminent voice in the Niger Delta; it curtailed what would have effectively been a resounding humiliation for the PDP, the Ijaw nation and subversion of a people’s choice to decide who governs them.  Indeed, a defeat for Dickson would, conceivably, had unleashed a domino effect across the Niger Delta states and change the political equation in the region.

    In other words, a denial of Dickson’s well deserved victory would have changed the pendulum in favour of APC in the Niger Delta / South South states where periodic elections would hold and re-run elections ordered by the courts. It is against this background that I agree with political analysts who posit that the re-election of Governor Dickson has saved the nation from drifting to a one party state. If the APC takes all Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom states where re-runs are expected as well as retain Edo, then Nigeria can be effectively described as a one party system and that would breed bare faced dictatorship!

    For Dickson, however, the contest was never about notching up bragging rights; it was a question of rendering service to the electorate. And it was by no means the typical soapbox rhetoric. Mounting the saddle in a state where spending on public utilities had always seemed like an afterthought, there are actually compelling reasons to assume the state of affairs would remain decadent.  Dickson shook up such cynicism in the people by proving that service delivery in politics could indeed be the norm and not the exception.

    In doing so, he kindled a new political consciousness in the people that repulsed the old decadent order and embraced an option that promises a better future. It was such progressive thought – reinforced by Dickson’s fidelity to the common good – that nurtured a sense of obligation in the people, reflected in the decision to resist the shenanigans that made the Bayelsa election a near bloodbath to retain the governor in Creek Haven.

    It was altruism at work and it has been the defining virtue that underpins all of his actions as a public servant. This selfless commitment to the public good has inspired a new work ethos in the state where the workforce is predominantly civil servants. The results are proving to be inevitable socio-economic benchmarks of assessment for states across the federation.

    A brief highlight of his scorecard makes this self-evident: construction of 450 kilometres of roads in the last three years; rebuilding the Isaac Adaka Boro road into a six-lane highway; and building Bayelsa’s first ever flyover. These and several other impressive works were implemented in spite of declining revenue from the federal purse. Anyone familiar with the philosophy on which the governor’s development vision revolves won’t find this surprising. For him, an enduring economic growth can be achieved only through investments in sectors that are not tied to the vagaries of oil price. This explains his strong emphasis on human capital development and the drive to make agriculture in the state a profitable venture. The importance he attaches to that goal is underscored by the fact that many indigenous companies have been beneficiaries of the administration’s policies on award of contracts.

    Of course, committing over N30 billion to the state’s free education and scholarship programmes is another ample demonstration of that conviction. He has, in addition, built 400 primary schools across the state, 24 model boarding secondary schools in the state’s 24 constituencies, and rebuilt many secondary and tertiary schools, including the previously moribund Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science.

    Youths for whom tertiary education might have otherwise been a mirage have seen their dream come true. The scholarship scheme launched by Dickson funds bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as doctoral programmes in Nigerian and foreign universities for thousands of Ijaw-speaking people.

    The commitment to agriculture has actually yielded immense fruits as evident in the number of plantations with thriving cultivation of rice, cassava, plantain, vegetables, and palm produce. The ancillary industry spawned by the state’s programme in agriculture has been just as impressive, with the Ebedebiri Commercial Cassava Starch Processing Plant coming on stream. Experts say the plant could actually generate over 30 thousand jobs at its optimal capacity.

    He may have been re-elected as governor, but the larger beneficiary of that victory is the Bayelsa electorate. Election of the state’s helmsmen – as in many other states – had long been subject to external whims which were seldom ever in sync with the wishes of the people. Dickson’s election has put an end to that and laid the foundation for democracy to flourish.

    • Comrade Onumah is a public affairs analyst, wrote from Yenagoa

  • PDP can recapture power in 2019 – Dickson

    The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has said his victory at the just-concluded governorship poll was an indication that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could reclaim power at the center in 2019.

    Dickson also averred that his victory saved the Ijaw nation and the PDP from ridicule, and rubbished all efforts aimed at turning Nigeria into a one party state.

    The governor, according to a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, spoke during a meeting with his political appointees at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, Yenagoa.

    He said the victory further put to rest, all speculations and propaganda that the party was disintegrating into insignificance.

    He said despite the setback the party suffered in the 2015 general elections, the PDP “has what it takes to recapture power in 2019 and render better grassroots-oriented leadership to the people of Nigeria.”

     

     

  • Dickson wins re-election as Bayelsa governor

    Dickson wins re-election as Bayelsa governor

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson yesterday won a second term after a tension-soaked election.

    The election came to a conclusion following the declaration of results of Saturday’s supplementary election results in the troublesome Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and 101 polling units across six local government areas.

    Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won with 134,998 votes to beat the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva, who polled 86,852 votes.

    Dickson won in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area with  23,081 votes. Sylva scored 10,216 votes.

    The returning officer announced the cancellation of  39,679 votes in Southern Ijaw for over voting, ballot box snatching, non-use of card readers and other irregularities.

    Declaring the results, the Returning Officer and Vice -Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof. Zena Akpagu, said Dickson was returned having satisfied the requirements of the law and scoring the highest votes cast.

    Amid tight security, Akpagu declared the winner of the election at the state collation centre inside the multipurpose hall of the Yenagoa Local Government Area secretariat.

    Hundreds of armed security operatives surrounded the venue and its environs with head of security agencies, such as the police, army and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, monitoring the proceedings.

    The governor extended his initially lead of 33,150 votes to 48,146 to retain his position after the epic electoral battle.

    The breakdown of the results showed that Dickson won in seven of the eight local government areas. Sylva won in only his Brass Local Government Area.

    In Yenagoa Local Government Area, Dickson won the supplementary election with 839 votes as against Sylva’s 448 votes.

    The consolidated results for the Council showed that PDP and Dickson polled 25,097 to defeat APC and its candidate who scored 15,011.

    In Brass,  the APC candidate widened his lead in the six polling units where the rerun election was held. Sylva polled 1,679 to extend his previous lead from 21,755 to 23,434 votes. Dickson got five votes to have a consolidated total of 6517 votes.

    The agent of the APC from Brass, Mr. Denis Otiotio, staged a walkout from the collation centre, claiming that he was not given an equal opportunity by the Returning Officer to address issues raised by the PDP agent.

    In Ogbia, Dickson extended his lead in the 27 polling units where the rerun poll was held.  He polled 1290 votes to lead from 13051 to 14341 votes.  Sylva added only 139 votes to get 9249.

    Also, the PDP and Dickson won in Ekeremor, the local government area of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, amidst protests by the APC.

    Dickson extended his lead from 14,602 votes to 17,297 after securing 2,695 in the 32 polling units where the supplementary election was held in the area.

    Sylva got 257 votes poll to increase his consolidated votes in the area to 8,178.

    There were, however, controversies in Ekeremor, following the cancellation of 17 units by the local government collation officer.

    The officer said the units were annulled for overvoting, disagreements on electoral procedures and diversion of electoral materials.

    He said the cancellation affected over 6,600 votes, adding that of 9157 registered voters, only 3,018 were accredited for the poll.

    But the cancellation sparked a row between the agent of the APC, Mr. Denis Otiotio, and his PDP counterpart  Mr. Fred Agbedi.

    Otiotio said the APC won by landslide in all the units cancelled, insisting that the ad-hoc employees of INEC were deliberately recruited with a mandate to work against the interest of the APC.

    He said the ward collation officers were given too much discretionary powers and wondered why 6,600 votes would be cancelled in an election that had 9157 registered voters.

    He said: “Everywhere APC won, the collation officer looked for a flimsy excuse to cancel it. The process must be free, fair and the procedure must be seen to be so. We submitted petitions but the electoral officers refused to collect them.”

    Otiotio urged the Returning Officer to suspend the collation and devote some time to peruse the petitions byAPC, a request that was turned down by the returning officer.

    He said APC had petitions against the conduct of elections in Ogbia, Nembe and Ogbia, insisting that the petitions must be looked into by the Returning Officer.

    But Agbedi said the 257 votes scored by the APC in Ekeremor should be cancelled, describing them as stolen votes.

    Agbedi, who is a member of the House of Representatives, accused the APC of engaging in actions that led to the cancellation.

    However, in Nembe, Sylva won the supplementary election after scoring 1,400 votes but still trailed behind Dickson in the consolidated votes. Sylva had 8,374 overall votes, Dickson got 11,927 votes after securing 1,163 in the rerun election to win the council area.

    The announcement of Nembe results also ended in protest following the cancellation of 883 votes.

    Otiotio said the cancellation was done without following the process laid down by INEC, wondering why a local government collation officer annulled a result that had been collated and brought to the INEC office in Yenagoa.

    He said: “l vehemently object to that procedure. When votes had been collated and brought to the INEC office, any party that has problem with it goes to the tribunal.”

  • Bayelsa: Tension as Dickson, Sylva win strongholds

    Bayelsa: Tension as Dickson, Sylva win strongholds

     

     

    • PDP wins Yenagoa, Ogbia,
      Sagbama; APC sweeps Brass LG
    • INEC declares fresh results
      at 11.00 am today
    • Gov weeps over ‘14 killed’
      on polling day
    • Police: No one died during
      supplementary elections
    • Ballot-box snatching,
      violence mar elections

     

    Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State yesterday maintained his lead  in the supplementary governorship election in the state as  the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released official results from Yenagoa,Brass,Sagbama and Ogbia local Government areas.

    Dickson won  in Yenagoa ,Sagbama and Ogbia while Sylva was the clear winner in Brass.

    In Yenagoa Local Government Area Dickson polled 839 votes to Sylva’s 448.

    The consolidated results for Yenagoa  showed that the governor got  25,097 as against Sylva’s  15,011.

    Sylva,on the other hand  recorded 1679 votes  in  six polling units in his local government area –Brass – to bring his total there to 23,434 votes. Dickson got only five votes in the area.

    Altogether his votes in Brass now stand at 6517.

    In Ogbia, local government area of former President Goodluck Jonathan,1290 voters in 27 polling units  threw their lot with Dickson,extending his lead  there from 13051 to 14341 votes.  Sylva got  139 votes leaving his total votes in Ogbia at 9249.

     

    Dickson got 180 votes in Sagbama  Local Government area and Sylva 111.

    The commission took a break at 2am this morning and is expected to resume at 11am today for the declaration of the results  for   Nembe, Ekeremor and the decisive Southern Ijaw .

    Southern Ijaw has the largest number of voters in the state,almost same as the seven other local government areas put together.

    Before the  break, the  APC agent in Brass, Mr. Denis Otiotio,had staged a walkout from the collation centre after accusing the Returning Officer of denying him an opportunity to address issues raised by the PDP agent.

    Hours before INEC began to broadcast the result,the PDP and the APC had  launched into a game of wits with the camps of  Governor Dickson and Chief Sylva of the APC  claiming victory for their candidates.

    The PDP made the first move when it said in a statement issued from the Government House,Yenagoa that Dickson was leading in the supplementary election in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and 101 units.

    The party said the  results collated by it in various polling units and wards across the state showed that Dickson  had widened its initial lead of over 33000 votes.

    It claimed to have  swept the polls in units and wards in Amassoma, Otuan, Ogbia, Nembe Ogbolomabiri, Ekpetiama and some other communities.

    It said: “The PDP, as at the time of filing this report ,polled 7,234 votes while APC is having 1,948 votes. Decentralization of election materials policy adopted by the Independent National Election Commission, (INEC) assisted in the early arrival of materials in some communities, even though there were reported cases of hijacking of election materials and violence in some areas.

    “Voters, as reliably informed, were resolute in their determination to put the governorship election behind them which was declared inconclusive by INEC on December, 5 and 6, 2015.

    “To ensure the success of the poll, the Nigeria Police Force deployed 5,000 officers to the various polling units across the state.

    “Political thugs suspected to be working for the leading opposition party were not deterred by the presence of the security operatives, as they unleashed terror on Ekeremor, Famgbe and Nembe communities.”

    But the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organization (SICO) alerted security agencies to  an alleged plot by Governor. Seriake Dickson, to seize broadcast stations and declare himself the winner of the poll.

    SICO in a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba    appealed to security agencies to ensure that no one uses  any of the broadcast stations in the state to either announce election result or incite people against the opposing political parties or the Federal Government.

    Egba said: “It would be recalled that Governor Seriake Dickson of the PDP regrettably deployed the state owned radio station, Glory 97.1FM, Yenagoa and other broadcast stations to heighten the tension and incite the people to violence in the aftermath of the botched December 5th and 6th governorship poll.

    “We decided to raise the issue to draw attention to the ongoing desperate attempts of Governor Dickson to arbitrarily announce a concocted results through the social media and state –owned media organisations and declare himself winner of the governorship election.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, it is to be noted that the purported attempts of Governor Dickson to either by himself, cronies or agents to declare himself winner is clearly in contravention of the Electoral Act as amended and also unconstitutional to the extent that such an action offends the clear provisions of the 1999 constitution that established the Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC).”

    Egba also asked  Dickson to consider the criminal consequences of any attempt to declare himself as winner of the election, saying it would amount to usurping the powers of the electoral body, INEC.

    Soon after his reaction to the PDP claim,Egba issued APC’s own account of the election result saying early results from the rerun election indicated that Sylva was in the lead.

    He said Sylva  had effectively cancelled  the 33,150 votes  with which Dickson  led in the inconclusive December 5th and 6th election.

    Sylva,according to Egba, secured majority votes in Bassambiri in Nembe Local Government Area,Akassa and Liama in Brass LGA, Ekeremor LGA and the few results so far from Southern Ijaw LGA.

    His words: “In Brass LGA, APC polled 1,696 votes, followed by the PDM which had 12 votes and the PDP with 5 votes while in Bassambiri, APC had 2,184 votes while PDP scored 3 votes.

    “PDP won in the only polling unit in Nembe- Ogbolomabiri through manipulation with 426 votes while APC was awarded 6 votes. In Oguta-Otuokpotiof Ogbia LGA, APC had 332 votes while PDP scored 10 votes.

    “In Ekeremor, home town of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, APC had a good showing by returning over 80 per cent of the total vote cast from over 13,000 expected votes.

    “In ward 17 of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, the result was in favour of the APC with well over 70 per cent of the vote cast.

    Egba said the APC members were excited about the results trickling in since Saturday evening and urged members and supporters to be upbeat in anticipation of a total victory in the election.