Bayelsa Election: Dickson And Sylva clash over rescheduled rerun

The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, and his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Mr. Seriake Dickson, are again locked in a row as the January 9 rescheduled rerun in the state approaches.

Sylva, through his campaign outfit, Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, has alleged that Dickson is ready to trade off his party, the PDP, to have his second term realised.

This is just as Dickson, in his reaction through his campaign team, the Bayelsa State Restoration Campaign Organisation, described Sylva’s allegation as laughable, deceitful and wicked propaganda.

Dickson, who said he had no reason to defect to the APC in order to win an election he had already won, called on Sylva to accept the fact that the APC had lost the election and had been roundly rejected by the people.

But the former governor said Dickson had been deceiving the people about the things he had been doing in his desperation to remain in office beyond February 14, 2016.

Sylva said, “When it was widely reported by every news organisation in the country that Dickson visited the Presidential Villa last Tuesday, without invitation, to beg President Muhammadu Buhari to be allowed to go for a second tenure, the PDP and the state government denied the story strenuously.

“Our sources confirmed to us that Dickson went to beg the Presidency to forgive him over his derogatory and inflammatory statements during the election and to prevail on me (Timipre Sylva) to soft pedal in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area to enable him to win the forthcoming rerun in the area.

“In return for that favour, Dickson proposed to foment an artificial crisis in the PDP at the national level and use that as a basis to defect from his party to the ruling APC. His argument was that he recognised the fact that Bayelsa State cannot afford to remain in opposition to the ruling party.”

He claimed that would be the second time Dickson would be seeking to dump the PDP for the APC in the course of elections in the state.

He stated that the first time was in the heat of the National Assembly primaries of early last year, when he sought to replace all serving National Assembly members from the state with his cronies against the wishes of then President Goodluck Jonathan, who wanted the performing ones to be returned.

He added, “On that occasion, he openly threatened both the former President and the PDP hierarchy of his readiness to defect to the APC and using his past relationship with the APC National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, to secure tickets for his preferred candidates as well as himself to defeat the PDP at the polls. Of course he got his way in that election.”

But Dickson said no amount of propaganda, lies and deceit could change the outcome of an election that had already been won by the PDP and lost woefully by the APC.

Dickson said, “The allegation by Sylva is laughable. It is shameful that even in the new year, Sylva is engaged in lies and deceit.

“I have no reason to defect to the APC in order to win an election that has already been won. The APC and Sylva have not only lost this election, they have been roundly rejected by the people.”

It will be recalled that before the cancellation of Southern Ijaw poll resulting in declaring the Bayelsa poll inconclusive, Dickson had polled 105,748 votes in seven out of eight LGAs of the state against Sylva’s 72,534.