Bayelsa Elections: Governor Dickson Berates APC

Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson, has described the All Progressives Congress as a party that is not on the ground in the state, adding that the APC is a party of propaganda and lies.

Dickson made this comment during an interview with Vanguard in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital as the state gears up for a gubernatorial contest in the month of December.

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He expressed strong convictions that he would be re-elected, as according to him, he has an edge over his opponents running on a record of concrete achievements, rather than promises.

The governor revealed that unlike the 2011 elections which he won, he has more support base now comprising of assembly members, local government chairmen and councillors.

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He said: “The campaign team we have, when we unveil it, you will see that, it is made up of who is who in politics of their communities, wards and their constituencies. It is an impregnable thing.

“The restoration support base is actually far more robust now than it was in 2012 and we have the advantage that I am running on a record of concrete achievements, not promises as any other person may be.

“The core restoration team is still intact. As a matter of fact, we are even stronger now because at that time, we didn’t have national assembly members supporting me.

“Now, all national assembly members are on board; all 21 Assembly Members are on board. I didn’t have local government chairmen when I was running last time, now they are all on board. I didn’t have councilors supporting, now they are all on board, commissioners and elders of the state are all on board.”

When asked if he was not worried by the mass defections of many Peoples Democratic Party members to the APC, Dickson responded saying a number of those, who have decamped were loyalists to former governor Timipre Sylva, who he claimed were displaced when the his government came on board.

“We took out a sitting government. So, if you see a man who was Sylva’s deputy governor and his speaker, who became acting governor decamping to join Sylva, you shouldn’t be surprised, because they were not with us. It may sound as if some big thing is happening, because they are the same characters that we replaced.

“They were not just with Sylva in his APC and that tells you a lot about the way they practiced politics, because if they were loyal and committed to Sylva and his political tendencies, they should have been in APC long ago, but they were with us and they stayed back and now they are going to meet their master because the APC has won power at the centre, so they were not part of our winning formula in 2012.

“The chairman of APC in the state was a local government chairman under Sylva’s administration and when I became governor, he served out his tenure and he has gone to join his master. That is what is happening,” Dickson said.

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The governor also had harsh words for the opposition, saying: “What I know is that the APC has no chance at winning the election in this state. I know that the APC has no chance of winning governorship election.

"The APC is not on the ground. It is a party of propaganda; a party of lies; a party of people, whose antecedents are very well known by our people. I believe and I’m confident that whoever is the candidate of the APC will be roundly rejected and defeated.”

Meanwhile, the APC has sounded a note of warning to the Independent National Electoral Commission to address all the problems associated with the use of card readers during the last general elections before the forthcoming governorship polls in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

Source: Legit.ng