•Says election not about me

By Samuel Oyadongha

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, yesterday called on all former leaders and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to the party and join him in his re-election for the development of the state.

Dickson, in a statement in Yenagoa, said the call became imperative in the wake of what he felt was the “humiliation and betrayal” meted to them by the APC leadership in the state, which had rendered them onlookers in the quest for political participation and relevance.

He also noted that the opposition party is not a viable alternative to peace, unity and development of the state, reminding them that the APC leadership in the state only had a repressive and retrogressive past, which will not serve any better purpose in the present dispensation.

While stressing that the forthcoming election was not about him, but for the greater good of Bayelsa State, Dickson urged all PDP defectors to put their grievances behind and join hands with him to uphold the interest of the state and the Ijaw nation above personal interest, adding that none of them could afford to allow the state slide into the dark days of the past.

“We may have had our differences, but in the light of current realities, it is only desirable that all our former members return to the PDP and join hands with me for greater development of Bayelsa State.

“Certainly we cannot afford a return to the dark days of our past and allow the state slide into anarchy, killings, maiming, kidnappings, cultism and state-sponsored terrorism directed at political opponents. The harrowing experiences of many Bayelsans, who fled into exile in neighbouring states and far-flung places, under the APC candidate when he held sway as governor for five years remain vivid and should not be allowed to be repeated.’’