Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, has told the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, that the party will wait till eternity, if it hopes to win any governorship election in the state.
Governor Dickson further took a swipe at Oyegun over unsavoury comments he had made through the APC South South Vice Chairman Hilliard Etaho saying that the Bayelsa State Government has nothing to show for the allocation it receives from the Federal Government. Etaho had made the statement while receiving Diekivie Ikiogha, a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain who defected to the APC.
“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,” Governor Dickson said.
Addressing the issue of Federal allocaion, Governor Dickson, who spoke via a statement issued on Monday, June 22, 2015 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 from Timipre Silva, now of the APC.
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.”
