Ahead of the December 5 governorship elections in Bayelsa State, political heavyweights in the Peoples Democratic Party, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and a former Governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, have endorsed the re-election bid of Governor Seriake Dickson.
The party leaders, including the PDP acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, spoke during its stakeholders meeting and dinner in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
They stressed that realities on ground clearly showed that the present administration was doing well in the state.
Others who delivered goodwill messages at the event included the Secretary of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Walid Jibrin; the Vice Chairman of the party in the South South, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh; and Wing Commander Peter Biakpara.
Senator Foster Ogola, Hon. Douye Diri, Air Vice Marshal Larry Koinyan (rtd) and King Amalate Turner, the Paramount Ruler of Opume in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state, also endorsed Dickson.
The meeting was also attended by PDP chieftains including Senator Stella Omu; the Director-General of the PDP Governors Forum, Osaro Onaiwu; House of Representatives member from Taraba State, Hon. Rima Shawalu; his Plateau State counterpart, Hon. Solomon Maren; and the Secretary of PDP for the South South Zone among others.
Addressing the party faithfuls, Jonathan said contrary to media reports and speculations, the PDP, which has been in control of the state since its inception in 1999, still has what it takes to win the forthcoming governorship election convincingly.
He said though some members of the party defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress, the PDP family would not lose sleep over the development as it remains united and strong in its resolve to clinch victory in the December 5 polls.
Jonathan, who promised to attend a rally where Governor Dickson is expected to publicly declare his intention to seek re-election on Tuesday (today), advised the defectors to retrace their steps back to the PDP.
He said: “We are here because what is happening in Bayelsa State now is similar to what happened in the state in 2003 when my boss then, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was to contest his second tenure.
“A number of people went to Abuja and threw up all kinds of stories.
“People may go to Abuja and say all kinds of things but the PDP in Bayelsa is very strong.
“We are committed and we will win our election.
“Few people might have left but the party is still strong and united.
“Well, we will continue to talk to our brothers and sisters because politics is all about consensus building.
“It is not a one man business.”
Secondus urged members of the party not to entertain any fears that the elections would be rigged, stressing that the National Working Committee and other organs of the party would put in all necessary machinery to ensure a free and fair electoral process.
He also assured aspirants who are jostling for the party’s ticket of the PDP national leadership’s resolve to conduct a credible and zero expenses primaries in the state and thereafter support the successful candidate to run effective electioneering campaigns in all the nooks and crannies of the state.
Quoting the holy Bible, the PDP chairman urged Bayelsans not to repay the party that provided the platform for their son and brother as the first minority to emerge president in the political history of the country with evil by voting for any of the opposition parties in the forthcoming governorship election.
Secondus said: “We have what it takes to mount enough pressure on the Federal Government in such a way that the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot rig you out.
“Not even the police can do that because the police and army belong to the Federal Government and not the APC.
“So they cannot be used to rig you out.
“The Director-General of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura, has shown that he is a member of APC and he is serving out the APC agenda but we’ve warned that we are running out of patience.
“The President should call Daura to order.
“Hence when we move on the streets, the international community will see that the APC-led Federal Government has anti-democratic tendencies.
“And that should be stopped.”
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