Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
September 16, 2015 – Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday, premised his decision to contest for a second term as Governor on the strength of his impressive scorecard in the last three and half years.
He said 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, 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.”
