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Tag: Governor Seriake Dickson

  • Bayelsa: Sylva accuses PDP leaders of sponsoring banditry

    Bayelsa: Sylva accuses PDP leaders of sponsoring banditry

    The governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, has accused the leaders of PDP in the state of sponsoring banditry during Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

    Sylva at his coastal Okpoama hometown in Brass LGA of Bayelsa state also called on INEC to look into the problems associated with card readers.

    Although, the card reader read the former governor’s PVC successfully in record time, but failed to read the PVCs of some other voters.

    Sylva said the APC in Bayelsa had told the police before the election that PDP leaders in the state and officials of Bayelsa government were stockpiling arms for the election.

    He said contrary to the claim by Governor Seriake Dickson of the PDP, election calmly and peacefully took place in his LGA.

    Sylva also lamented attack on the house of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri in Ekeremor, the headquarters of Ekeremor LGA of Bayelsa State.

  • Violence in Dickson’s Sagbama area

    Violence in Dickson’s Sagbama area

    There are reports of violence at unit 3, 2 and 1 at Toru-Orua community, Dickson’s home town in Sagbama local government area.

    Gunmen stormed the polling units and chased away the All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters.

    At Dickson’s unit 4, ward 2 where card reader has started working, an APC supporter was beaten to coma for challenging the thugs.

    The security personnel are facing hard time in dealing with the situation.

    They seemed helpless though they are trying to restore normalcy at the four units in the community.

     

  • We are committed to free, fair election, says Dickson

    We are committed to free, fair election, says Dickson

    The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has assured the international community of his administration’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful election in the state on December 5.

    The governor who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election spoke on Thursday when the US Consul-General in Nigeria, John Bray, visited him to discuss issues bordering on the poll.

    Dickson said as part of his preparations for the election, he was on a campaign and sensitisation tour of communities across the state.

    The governor said he was also using the opportunity to educate the people on the essence of a violence-free election, describing himself as an advocate of free, fair and credible polls.

    He accused the opposition of boasting to use federal might and other various agencies of government to rig the poll.

    He further claimed that the opposition was using intimidation and threats of violence to scare the electorates.

    Dickson warned anti-democratic forces against destabilising the state, stressing that, Bayelsans would resist any attempt to sabotage the forthcoming poll.

    He called on security forces to take appropriate action against persons involved in any form anti democratic ctivities during the period.

    He said: “My duty is to sensitise the people on their rights and I have been going round to sensitise the people, not to be involved in violence, not to be  intimidated, turnout en masse and vote massively for the PDP, because we are a peaceful party as against the opposition that is known for violence.

    “Our government is known for stability, peaceful co-existence, the protection of the democratic rights of the citizens, observance of the rule of law, a record of performance, belief in the principles of free, fair and credible election which the is not known for.”

    But Bray said he came to inform Dickson of US plans to send an observer mission to monitor the poll.

    The consul-general also said he was in the Government House to share ideas with Dickson on how to conduct a free, fair and credible election.

  • Bayelsa: APGA candidate campaigns for Sylva

    Bayelsa: APGA candidate campaigns for Sylva

    The Bayelsa State candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the December 5 governorship poll, Chief Christopher Enai, Thursday, told the people that a former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, is the best out of all other contestants in the election.

    Enai asked the people to return the state to the path of development insisting that only the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Sylva, have the template to develop the state.

    Speaking in grand rally of the APC in Ekeremor Local Government Area, the APGA standard bearer said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had done disservice to the people by failing to develop the state in over 16 years.

    He said with the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, from Ekeremor, the state would be better positioned for development if an APC government emerged on December 5.

    “APC has a plan to develop this state. The party has given us a minister in charge of agriculture. The minister is from Ekeremor, my local government.

    “What we need is an APC governor who will now work with our minister and the APC-led Federal Government to ensure total development of this state.”

    lnsisting that the state could not afford to be in the opposition, Enai said it was the desire of the founding fathers of Bayelsa to always align with the centre.

    Describing the Governor Seriake Dickson’s PDP-led government as wicked, backward and selfish, Enai said Sylva would bring prosperity, empowerment and development to the state.

    “Since the beginning of this democratic dispensation, we have never been in the opposition. We can’t afford any opposition government now. It is time to align with the centre.

    “Apart from that, we cannot afford to vote for Dickson and his PDP because they have entrenched poverty and underdevelopment. The only candidate we know and must vote for is Sylva.”

    Also speaking, a PDP chieftain in the community, Mr. Kenneth Samuel, who led over 1000 defectors to APC said they were treated like slaves in their former party.

    He said: “The APC has brought freedom to us. We are now free. We have come to vote and support the APC and Sylva.”

    Addressing the enthused crowd, Sylva said the APC had come to end the era of poverty, hunger and hardship caused by PDP misrule.
    “The new time for ‘jollification’, enjoyment and empowerment has come. This is the time for the development of this state,” he said.

    Referring to Lokpobiri as a minister in charge of food and rural development, he vowed to work with him to “abolish hunger in the land” if elected.

    He said before the expiration of his tenure, if elected, he would ensure that the road linking their community from Sagbama is completed.

    “I will not do 419 because some people are trying to do 419 with that road. I will also truly empower Ekeremor,” he said.

    He derided Governor Seriake Dickson for indiscriminately sharing appointment letters to people in the twilight of his administration.

    He said the governor’s strategy of issuing appointments letters without salaries and offices to lure people to vote for him, again was deceitful.

    “Dickson has appointment letters in his pockets and he is now selling and hawking senior special assistant appointments without offices and salaries. It is a government of 419 and it will be over on December 5,” he said.

    Sylva promised to improve on the road he constructed in the community describing Ekeremor as one of the largest communities in the state.

    “Consider me as a son of Ekeremor because l have friends who are dear to me from here. It is time for you to effect the change because we cannot continue to cry. It is a new day and a new song,” he said.

    Also speaking, Lokpobiri told his people that they were indebted to Sylva and the APC and urged them to pay the debt on December 5.

    He said Dickson had only two months to vacate the Government House noting that he could not bring the governor to campaign in the community in 2012 because he knew him as a liar.

    He recalled that when Dickson campaigned in 2012, he promised to drive to the community to seek second term in office.

    “He has deceived you because he could not build the road he promised,” he said.

    Receiving the defectors, the state Chairman of the party, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe, asked the people to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) ready to change Dickson to Sylva.

    While he was speaking, the people roared that they would never vote for Dickson and PDP again.

  • Jonathan’s statue and Dickson’s status

    Whatever his critics may say, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is still credited with political influence in some ambitious quarters despite his failed re-election dream. Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, who is eyeing a second term, demonstrated Jonathan’s importance in the eyes of those determined to remain in power in the former president’s state.

    It is interesting that Dickson considered it strategic to publicly signal the start of his re-election campaign by unveiling a statue of Jonathan. A picture of the statue was published on September 6. There was Jonathan frozen in his signature “resource-control” fashion, wearing beads and a plastic smile, waving his right hand, and holding an open umbrella painted in his party’s colours over his head.

    Following the celebration of the standing sculpture, Jonathan, who was not at the event, played host to Dickson at his country home, Otuoke, in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The visit resulted in Jonathan’s formal endorsement of Dickson for the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard-bearer in the December 5 governorship poll in the state.

    Jonathan said on the occasion:  ”I am not expecting the governor to score 100 per cent There are three key parameters I will like to score Governor Dickson, which are payment of salaries, physical infrastructure and low indebtedness of the state in terms of bank loans and in the capital markets. If you compare what has happened in other parts of the country, you will praise the governor.”

    Jonathan’s encouraging words for Dickson’s campaign must be discouraging to the people, considering, among other negatives, news of water scarcity in Otuoke, a community whose claim to fame is that a former president hails from there. Against the background of Jonathan’s positive rating of the Dickson administration based on alleged infrastructural development, it is relevant to draw attention to a recent report on the water problem in the ex-president’s hometown.

    A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) serving in the area, Emmanuel Agede, was quoted as saying: “You will not believe it that here in Otuoke, we use water from an unused soak-away pit dug near our lodge, for washing clothes and bathing. For cooking and drinking, we buy sachet water; life is very difficult here; we spend the bulk of our monthly allowances on water for survival.”

    This is a big blemish on both Jonathan and Dickson. No water can wash them clean on this point.

  • Dickson scared of defeat-Bayelsa youths

    Bayelsa youths yesterday said the body language and utterances of Governor Seriake Dickson ahead of the December 5 governorship election have given him away as someone scared of defeat.

    The youths, under the auspices of Youth Forum for Progressive Change (YFPC), advised the governor to shelve his second term ambition, saying that Dickson’s attacks on the personalities of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders were indications of fear.The group made its position known after its meeting in Yenagoa in a communiqué signed by its National Coordinator, Aye Itare; Secretary, Mr. Jonathan Okwu, and Public Relations Officer, Mr. Amamboha John.

    It said Dickson was jittery following the attacks his office was sponsoring against politicians that signified intention to contest the election against him.

    The YFPC said: “We, as civilised Bayelsa youths, hereby admonish Governor Seriake Dickson that governing the people is not a do-or-die affair.

    “Our admonition to Dickson is hinged on the fact that no amount of insults, willful misrepresentation of facts, innuendos nor plain attacks or derogatory remarks by him or his supporters on the persons of APC leaders in the state such as Tiwei Orunimighe, former Governor Timipre Sylva, Chief Ndutimi Alaibe, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, or any other governorship aspirants can make him return in 2016.”

  • Dickson, ex-Jonathan aide renew rivalry over guber poll

    Ex- domestic aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Waripanmowei Dudafa, yesterday insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will fail woefully if it fields Governor Seriake Dickson for the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

    Dudafa dissociated himself from an alleged directive by the former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, that all her loyalists, including him, should support the second term bid of Dickson.

    Speaking through the former state Secretary of the defunct Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Gesiye Isowo, Dudafa said there was no time the former First Lady directed him and many others to support the comeback bid of the governor.

    Dudafa was expelled from the PDP by a faction of the party loyal to Dickson over alleged anti-party activities.

    He was said to have sponsored the electoral victory of Abiye Tarabina on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) during the State House of Assembly election in the state.

    Loyalists of Dudafa also accused the government of instigating the invasion and looting of his Yenagoa home by some unidentified armed men.

    They were also said to be angry with the state government for leading media attacks against Dudafa.

    Dudafa said: “Our attention has been drawn to a story making the rounds concerning a decision said to have been taken by Her Excellency, the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, to support the second term bid of Dickson. It was also reported that Dudafa was consequently directed to work for Dickson too.

    “It would ordinarily not have been necessary to react to this story but for the fact that silence could easily be interpreted as lending credence to the story, which in the end may impinge on Dr. Dudafa’s integrity.

    “Firstly, there is no truth in the claim that Her Excellency, the former First Lady directed Dr. Dudafa to work for the re-election of Governor Dickson.

    “His opposition to the return of Dickson for a second tenure as governor of Bayelsa was not directed by anybody, therefore the issue of his been directed to act otherwise cannot arise.

    “It is public knowledge that Dr. Dudafa made a widely circulated press statement on the 27th of May, 2015, in which he stated clearly that if the PDP fields Dickson as their candidate for the Bayelsa governorship election of December this year, the party will lose woefully at polls.

    “His position on this has not changed because Dickson’s administration has continued to fail the people of the State in all facets of development and has in the process elicited total rejection from the people of the state.

    “Consequently, it cannot be the case that Dudafa will be directed or accept to be directed to work for Dickson’s reelection. This is purely a matter of principle and nothing else.”

    “Dudafa, therefore, calls on his teeming supporters, friends and colleagues to disregard the purported media reports and urge them to remain steadfast in the task to unseat Dickson”.

    But the PDP described Dudafa’s decision to work against the reelection bid of Dickson as empty.

    Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, said that Dudafa was a non-issue in the politics of his Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area and the state.

    Dokubo- Spiff said: “Dudafa cannot determine the victory of PDP. All the critical stakeholders in Bayelsa State politics are with Governor Henry Seriake Dickson. They have also endorsed the governor for a second term.

    “The governor does not need Dudafa’s endorsement or support to win his re-election as he has never supported the governor’s political ambition.

    “The governor derives his strength from the people and not like Dudafa who thrives on propaganda and blackmail.”

     

  • Dickson, ex-chief of staff quarrel over govt property 

    Former Bayelsa Chief of Staff Chief, Dikivie Ikiogha, yesterday challenged Governor Seriake Dickson to name the government properties in his possession.

    The Government House had accused Ikiogha, who is one of the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants, of failing to return government properties six months after his resignation as the Chief of Staff to the Bayelsa State Governor (Abuja office).

    Ikiogha, a close associate of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was at the vanguard of the campaign that made Dickson the governor in 2012.

    He was appointed the Chief of Staff, Government House, Yenagoa, but moved to the state office in Abuja in controversial circumstances.

    He failed to secure the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the House of Representatives in the last general elections.

    Ikiogha was one of the earliest friends of Jonathan to dump the PDP for the APC with his numerous supporters in a carnival-like event in Yenagoa.

    A source from Government House, who spoke in confidence, said the government has ordered Ikiogha to return all properties in his possession.

    The source claimed the former Chief of Staff only returned some properties but retained others in his custody in defiance of civil service rules

    “No public officer after leaving office has the right to withhold government properties.

    “However, instead of doing the needful by returning the remaining property in his possession, the former Chief of staff headed for court asking for injunction to stop police from arresting him.

    “Ikiogha, after leaving office as the Chief of Staff, Abuja office, is still having some government properties in his custody.

    “It is clearly stated in the public/civil service rules that any official leaving the office should handover property in his/her possessions to the most senior officer in the Ministry, Department or Agencies.”

    But in a swift reaction, Ikiogha said there was no government property in his possession.

    He dared the governor to name the items.

    Describing the governor as a drowning man, Ikiogha said Dickson was after him because he (the governor) was nursing fears that he would emerge as the candidate of the APC and his rival in the December 5 governorship election.

    He said: “I would not have bothered to reply this infantile statement, which was not specific on what government property are in my possession and which I absconded with.

    “But for the wrong impression that may be created in the minds of Bayelsans and Nigerians as, I may indeed be, God willing, Dickson’s rival for the governorship elections scheduled for December 5th, 2015.

    “When I left government, the only government property with me were the two Hilux vehicles given to me by Mr. Dickson personally, which I have since returned with the official plate numbers as demanded by the governor himself.

    “I challenge him to be specific on any other government property in my possession that I have not returned as claimed by his office.

    “It is regrettable that Dickson has reduced himself to pettiness instead of facing governance which is what he was elected to do.”

    The APC governorship aspirant added: “Following my indication to contest against him, Dickson has been looking for ways to humiliate me.

    “He even attempted to use law enforcement agents to arrest me but I went to the courts to stop the illegal move.

    “I want the governor to wait till we get to the political field where we will face each other in a popularity contest instead of resorting to blackmail.

    “He is a drowning man clinging to political straws. He will drown alone.”

  • Bayelsa renews commitment to development

    Bayelsa renews commitment to development

    The Bayelsa Government on Saturday renewed its commitment to develop all parts of the state despite dwindling resources from the federation account.

    Mr Lawrence Erujakpor, the state Commissioner for Works,said this while conducting members of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) on a tour of projects in the state as part of activities marking the 2015 All Editors Conference in Yenagoa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the monthly revenue of the state has nosedived from N18 billion in 2012 to N9 billion by July 2015.

    Erujakpor regretted that the revenue drop had adversely affected the pace of construction activities, but added that the government was judiciously deploying the available resources to ensure value for money.

    He explained that the drop in revenue had compelled the government to shift the deadlines for most of the ongoing projects adding that the rainy season had also caused some delays.

    Erujakpor told the NGE members that the state government was implementing a deliberate policy of spreading development projects to all parts of the state to ensure even development.

    Some of the projects sites visited include 3 star hotel projects , the N3.8 bn governor’s office project, the golf course , multi-door court house, Music school and language school.

    Others are the medical diagnostic complex, drug distribution mart , the cargo airport, Ogobiri bridge and Ogbia-Nembe road, among others.

    The editors also visited the abandoned Oloibiri Oil Well 1 in Ogbia local government area.of the state where oil was first struck by Shell Petroleum Development Company in 1956 in commercial quantity.

  • Dickson bemoans environmental degradation in Bayelsa

    Dickson bemoans environmental degradation in Bayelsa

    Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa on Saturday bemoaned the deplorable level of environmental degradation in the state.

    He expressed the concern during the executive interactive session with editors on the sideline of the ongoing 11th All Nigerian Editors Conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Yenagoa.

    The governor identified three major challenges causing the environmental degradation in the state.

    According to him, the state recorded 636 spills in the last one year from the facilities of a particular oil company operating in the state.

    ”From our statistics, spills from Agip Oil alone, we recorded 636 spills in one year.

    ”In other words, this state is not just the headquarters of oil and gas, this state is also the headquarters of pollution,” Dickson said.

    The governor said another challenge is the activities of some youths, who often break pipelines to steal crude oil.

    ”Unfortunately, our young boys have also added to the environmental problems we are facing in this state.

    ”They break pipelines to steal crude oil; they sell it to their foreign collaborators while some security agents also collude with them.

    ”This state and the entire Niger Delta region, and few other states, are suffering from environmental damage arising from oil spillage, gas flaring and pipelines vandalism by our youths.

    ”We are, however, dealing with the problems in the best way we can and we hope that collectively, the governments of the littoral states will wake up to the challenges,” the governor said.

    In Bayelsa, he noted that his administration was passionate about environment because it ”is a common heritage of all mankind.

    ”An environment spoilt anywhere is a loss to humanity,” he added.

    Dickson lamented that since 1956 when oil was first struck, till date, oil companies have been flaring gas.

    ”They are still flaring gas; gas that should be bringing billions of dollars to us.

    ”We are still flaring between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of our gas, which is further degrading our environment,” he said.

    Also speaking on the efforts of his administration in the area of agriculture, the governor noted that despite the degraded environment, the state government was still make agriculture as one of its ”corner stone.”

    ”We have a big cassava plantation where we want to be producing starch for both local consumption and for export.

    ”We have planted the cassava and we are already installing the starch making machines.

    ”The state also has an ambition to become the headquarters of fishery and aqua culture.

    ”We want a situation where people will come to Bayelsa to be producing fish in commercial quantity,” the governor said.