The Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has challenged Governor Seriake Dickson to tell the people what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did for the state in its 16 years in the federal administration.
In the same vein, the party asked the governor to show projects the state benefited from in six years under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
The party said Jonathan, Dickson and his party underdeveloped the state and squandered the golden opportunities to attract development to Bayelsa.
The party was reacting to a statement by Dickson that APC leaders should use their contacts and connections to attract federal presence to the state.
But in a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, the state capital, by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Panebi Fortune, APC described the governor’s remarks as “mischievous and loose”.
The statement described Jonathan and the PDP as liabilities to the people.
APC said: “Our attention was today (yesterday) drawn to a mischievous and loose statement credited to Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, apparently in clear exhibition of arrogance and shallowness that APC leaders from Bayelsa State were yet to attract development to the state.
“From the statement, it was clear that the governor was either being misled by his imagination or was merely expressing another misguided view of our party, the APC.
“In our view, the statement was reckless, even as it was a shameless show of brazen arrogance by a man whose party, the PDP, had an ample opportunity to develop Bayelsa State but looked the other way.
“Does it not show much of political liability that while Jonathan, a son of Bayelsa State held sway for six years, the state is yet to take off? What template of development did the former President lay before he was voted out of office? For us in the APC and indeed the generality of Bayelsans, both Jonathan and the PDP were liabilities than they were assets to the people of the state. They underdeveloped Bayelsa State.”
It added: “May we use this medium to remind Governor Dickson that rather than chase shadows and engage in blackmail, he should consider the plight of Bayelsa workers and pay their salaries. The level of hunger, despair and insecurity occasioned by poverty should be of paramount interest to him.
“It is a shame that despite the God-given opportunity, Jonathan and his party decided to impoverish the people of Bayelsa State, just as Governor Dickson, like an emperor, has taken solace in a conquest-like squeeze of the people.
“We use this medium to advise Governor Dickson to face governance during this period of judicial reprieve as the days of justice are not too far away. It can only be preposterous that development, which had eluded our dear state over the years under a PDP national government, can be hurriedly canvassed to Bayelsa within 15 months of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“For our supporters, we enjoin you to remain steadfast and ignore provocative moves orchestrated by the state government and its agents to trigger unease. We will win at the end of the battle.”
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