Governor Seriake Dickson
Amidst the crisis bedeviling Nigeria’s dominant Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa on Sunday devoted time to ‘troubleshooting’ political problems in the State, but stepped on a raw nerve when he announced he would demolish the newly-opened Secretariat of the surging All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the governor, the building has long been earmarked for demolition, alongside other structures, to make way for a second fly-over bridge to be constructed in the area. Despite assuring that his government has set aside the sum of N1 billion for the payment of compensation to owners of affected property, however, his opponents are crying foul, asking why the decision was not announced before the building was chosen to host the opposition’s secretariat.
Governor Dickson, who said he was trying to fix problems with the opposition party which formally berthed in Bayelsa only days earlier, on January 8, said he had directed the Police and other security agencies in the State to ensure adequate security at the secretariat of the APC in Yenagoa, the State capital.
The APC had accused the PDP of masterminding the attack by unknown persons who removed party flags and a signboard from the new APC secretariat in Yenagoa just one day after it was opened.
A statement by Daniel Iworiso-Markson, Chief Press Secretary to Dickson, said his boss’ directive was in keeping with the policy of the administration to ensure the security of lives and property of residents and visitors.
“As a responsive Government, we will not abandon what is clearly our constitutional duty to provide security and ensure that people go about their legitimate duties without any form of molestation and same for the APC and any other party that is lawfully registered and recognized as a political party in Nigeria,” the governor stated.
Strangely, however, Dickson made a deeper foray into the internal politics of the APC than he has into the one swallowing his own PDP. He appealed to its leadership at the national level to take steps urgently to resolve the leadership tussle among its rank and file in Bayelsa, saying that the ‘bitter’ rivalry among members must be properly handled to avoid its degenerating into a security problem.
“Clearly, the rivalry or rift in the party is between loyalists of former Governor Timipre Sylva and members of the ACN, who have been in the opposition all the while and a part of the new alliance that gave birth to the APC,” he analyzed.
“Another thorny issue within the party is that two of Sylva’s loyalists (Richard Perekemeh Kpodoh and Godwin Sidi) have reportedly imposed themselves on the party as Chairman and Secretary as well as sited the State Secretariat at Kpodo’s personal property located at the Etegwe area of Yenagoa without due consultation.”
Chief Kpodo, who describes himself as a former Adviser on Strategy & Policy Monitoring to President Goodluck Jonathan when he was Bayelsa State Governor, admits donating the property to the party to be used as its new Secretariat.
He objected to the governor’s statement about compensation for the property, saying he has not even been officially informed about the decision to demolish the property let alone has the value of the compensation to be paid been communicated to him.
Governor Dickson pleaded that the demolition exercise is not to witch hunt anybody or group of persons, arguing it is aimed purely at bringing about infrastructural development to the state capital.
To buttress the point, he said that a section of his own property was earlier demolished as a result of the ongoing expansion of the new Opolo/Elebele expressway. He did not say how much was paid to him, nor address why the decision to demolish the new APC property conveniently came just hours after the APC announced the use of the property as its Secretariat. He merely described the practice as the price everybody has to pay for the development of critical infrastructure of the State.
“Bayelsa is at peace and I want to use this opportunity to call on the APC to ensure that the problem does not cause a breach of the peace within the State capital and its environs, as Government will do everything on its part to maintain the existing peaceful atmosphere around the state,” he stated.
Kpodoh believes that Mr. Jonathan is behind the decision of Dickson to demolish the property, citing as evidence that the President is upset with Vice President Namadi Sambo about widespread defections in Kaduna State to the APC, a nightmare that has now arrived in his own home state of Bayelsa.
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