By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
It was not surprising that Bayelsans championing the election of Rep. Serikae Dickson as Governor in the forthcoming gubernatorial election would borrow a trick from Neighbour to Neighbour, N2N the media campaign team associated with the successful election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president.

The compulsive media shopper, N2N after successfully elevating a Bayelsan as President has against odds helped to sustain him in office despite the most trying challenges to have engulfed a Nigerian President in recent times.

Keme2Keme, meaning neighbor to neighbor in the native Ijaw language spoken all over Bayelsa is the campaign methodology that has been adopted by the Dickson team to push the gubernatorial quest of the incumbent member of the House of Representatives and former commissioner in the state.

The philosophy of the campaign is to move from house to house spreading the news of the arrival of a new dawn in the annals of the riverine state. Dickson who is contesting for the gubernatorial office on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is expected to formally flag off his campaign at a rally in Yenogoa today that would be graced by the highest echelons of the party and government.

Leading the team is President Jonathan whose inclination towards Dickson was covered for long even in the midst of the storm that engulfed the party. Today, the President is expected to openly and perhaps, speak from his heart that his preferred candidate has been endorsed as the PDP candidate.

*Dickson

Also expected are the acting national chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje and other members of the National Working Committee, NWC of the party. The NWC was instrumental in wielding the big stick that enforced the exclusion of the former Governor, Chief Timipire Sylva from the primaries, thus paving way for a smooth emergence of Dickson.

Also expected for today’s launch are Vice President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal of the House of Representatives, PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, erstwhile Governor of Bayelsa State, DSP Alamiesiegha, erstwhile deputy Governor of the state, Chief Peremebowei Ebebi, former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr. Timi Alaibe among others.

The presence or absence of the state’s delegation to the National Assembly and the members of the State House of Assembly would be an issue today.

Dickson was opposed by all the members of the National Assembly and the majority of the members of the House of Assembly prior to his validation as the party’s candidate. The state’s legislators including those close to President Jonathan had sided with Sylva in the run up to the bitter contest for the party ticket.

However, with Dickson triumphing, political observers would be watching out for a breakthrough in his effort to consolidate his standing among the political elite.

The recent Supreme Court judgment that terminated the extended tenure of Chief Sylva is expected to play to his advantage as politicians who would not want to lose out seek to entrench themselves in the winning team.

Even before the judgment a couple of officers in the Sylva administration sensing the futility of fighting the federal forces had thrown in the towel and switched sides to Dickson.

The Acting Governor Nestor Binabo, who until last Friday’s judgment was Speaker of the state assembly had until the judgment been unwavering in his pledge of loyalty to Sylva.

With the changing tide of fortune and fortitude among the contenders, the Acting Governor is expected to become a pivotal player in the determination of the squabble between the Sylva forces and the Dickson camp.

Binabo is from the same senatorial constituency as Dickson a section of the state that is yet to produce a Governor for the state. Given the quest of his senatorial district to have a feel of the top job in the state it would not be unexpected that the Acting Governor would be snatched from the camp of the Sylva forces.

Remarkably, Dickson’s Restoration Team it was learnt has been reaching out to the Acting Governor, if not for anything, but to abandon the former Governor to the intent of giving the PDP candidate a smooth ride into the Government House.

All such permutations would be unveiled today as the President leads the party and government hierarchy to the formal flag-off of the Dickson campaign.

Speaking ahead of today’s ceremony, Dickson had promised to give Bayelsans the best in terms of governance.

‘‘I am a man of ideas but I don’t claim to know everything. I promise to lead by example and assemble a time-tested team of men and women who will help implement our lofty agenda for the good of the people and peace of our state,’’ he said.

While many would see today’s event as a Dickson affair, for the President it would be for him the erection of a political legacy built on one of his most steadfast loyalists since his days as Governor of the state.

Dickson served in the Jonathan cabinet as Commissioner for Justice and was subsequently a pawn in the political chess game between the Sylva loyalists and the Jonathan camp in the former days of political frostiness between the former Governor and the then Vice President.