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Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The All Progressive Congress (APC) has blasted Governor Henry Seriake Dickson for downplaying the victory recorded by President Muhammadu Buhari and the party in the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
Dickson had in a press statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr Fidelis Soriwei, rejected the votes which he said were allotted to Buhari and APC candidates in Nembe Bassambiri and Southern Ijaw, and urged Nigerians to discountenance the votes because election in the two areas “was a blatant violation of the rights of the people to elect their leaders and representatives.”
Dickson had accused former governor Timipre Sylva, APC chieftains, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the military of colluding to divert electoral materials and holding electoral officers hostage to allocate fake figures.
But the APC in a statement by its publicity secretary, Doifie Buokoribo, said it considers Dickson’s statement “baseless, ill-advised, and reckless”
According to him, the elections have come and gone and if Dickson and his party are dissatisfied with its outcome they should explore the option provided in the Electoral Act to seek redress rather than dragging the state into it.
The statement reads in part:
“Dickson is not Bayelsa State. Bayelsa State is not Dickson. Bayelsa State is not a party to the general elections. Bayelsa State Government must not be confused with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As a narrow-minded and petty politician, Dickson seems not to realise that he is governor of all, not just PDP. Or are we to assume that APC members in Bayelsa State are from Sudan? The 23 February 2019 elections have taken place, the results collated and winners have emerged. No amount of threat, psychological warfare or fake news can change the results as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The only option open to any aggrieved party is a democratic court of law. As a lawyer, or even governor who has access to a myriad of lawyers, Governor Dickson should know this basic fact. The peace-loving, democracy-minded people of Bayelsa State cannot be made pawns in a crude political game by rogue buccaneers seeking power at all costs”.
