Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday, premised his
decision to contest for a second term as Governor based on the strength of
his impressive scorecard of achievements in the last three and half years.
According to him, his achievements surpassed the abysmal performance of
members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), while they were in public
office.
Governor Dickson, who made the comparison in a live radio and television
interview in Yenagoa, said in addition to initiating projects that have
impacted positively on the lives of the people, his administration also
took over projects that could have been completed by the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC.
Citing the Sagbama-Ekeremor road initially awarded by the commission, he
noted that, the project had been abandoned for years just like a number of
such failed projects dotting the landscape of Bayelsa that had retarded
the development of the state.
While contending that most of his opponents in the All Progressives
Congress (APC), were no match for his candidature, Governor Dickson
reminded Bayelsans that, they failed to use their public office to attract
development to the state.
His words: “We want an election run on ideas; on vision. The APC in
Bayelsa has no candidate that can match my record of service. I can’t wait
for their candidate to emerge. I want to take them on, point by point. In
the area of development, they should be prepared to engage the people on
their record of service. All of them put together and the baggage that
they all have; like failed roads in NDDC; those who started the foundation
of what the NDDC is, let them debate with me on issues of development.
They were running against 4 Governors at a stretch with all the combined
budget of the Niger Delta States.
Commenting on his emergence as the sole candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), the Governor, who described the screening process
as smooth, attributed his success to his achievements in office and the
active roles he has played in the affairs of the party at both state and
national levels.
He commended the other contenders to the party’s ticket for participating
in the process and urged them to accept the verdict of the screening
committee and join the already existing formidable team to work for a
landslide victory for the PDP in the December poll.
“I am not surprised today that I am the candidate of my party for the
general election. I have always been the presumptive candidate of my party
for the general election because every incumbent is a presumptive
candidate of his party for re-election particularly under the rules and
regulations of the PDP. If in our party, you are running against a PDP
President or Governor, you should know that you are running against the
leader of your party.
“I’m delighted as the candidate of my party. I have led this party through
thick and thin at very trying moments to victory in the state. And, I have
played several active roles, even at the national level. Moving forward, I
expect everybody to be on board. I am a consensus builder, and so we will
build the right consensus and bring all players on board so that we can
move as a team to what is expected to be a landslide victory for our
party.”