…says he inherited N332 bn debt
Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has told the national
chairman of All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that the
party will wait till eternity, if it hopes to win any governorship
election in the state.
He also described as very uncharitable the statement attributed to Oyegun.
through the party’s South-South vice chairman, Hilliard Etaho, that the
government has nothing to show for the allocation from the Federal
Government.
Etaho made the comment while formally receiving a new defector from the
Peoples Democratic Party and former Chief of Staff in Government House,
Chief Diekivie Ikiogha at a ceremony in Yenagoa.
“If the APC is expecting the defectors it is now welcoming with open arms
to win the governorship election in the state, they will have to wait till
eternity. Bayelsans have no time for political miscreants”,
Dickson in a statement issued on Monday evening by his Chief Press
Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said when he assumed office in February
2012, he inherited a massive debt profile of N332 billion.
He said, “Through prudent management and commitment to the ethos of good
governance, that debt today stands at N90 billion. Out of the N440 billion
that his government received as allocation from the Federation Account
about N242 billion was used to help pay down that debt even as it embarked
on an unprecedented level of infrastructural development and
socio-economic welfare schemes.”
“This is why the Bayelsa state government considers as very uncharitable
the statement attributed to APC Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun that the
government has nothing to show for that allocation from the centre.
“The APC chairman’s posture is highly curious given that he had warned
against defections to his party after its victory at the March
presidential elections, advising potential defectors to remain in their
existing parties and help build a virile opposition in the interest of the
development of the nation’s democracy. So why is the APC now welcoming the
sudden influx of power prostitutes and fair weather politicians who spin
cock and bull stories into its fold?
“Such defectors are no loss to us in the state and the APC richly deserves
what it gets by welcoming and accommodating elements steeped in treachery
into its ranks. But Chief Oyegun should kindly leave the Bayelsa State
government out of its growing confusion.
“The state government is preoccupied with changing the lives of Bayelsans
for good as is already evident in its transparent administration,
commitment to good governance, landmark infrastructural development,
empowerment of the people, free compulsory qualitative education, social
welfare payments to the elderly and unprecedented health infrastructure.”