The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr.
Seriake Dickson, has said that some forces within the Peoples Democratic
Party are tearing the party apart.....
He said the forces were against a cohesive and strong PDP.
Dickson made the revelation during a
media event at the Governor’s Conference Room at the Government House,
Yenagoa, on Sunday evening.
The governor, who was the Chairman, PDP
Reconciliation Committee, said the major problems of the party were
selfishness and ego, insisting that if nothing was done to address the
problems, the party would continue to suffer.
Dickson stated, ‘’I was very serious
about rebuilding the party to take over power at the centre and everyone
knows what I did. I did everything, built consensus but I think there
are forces within the PDP that are against a cohesive and strong PDP
that will take over power at the centre.
‘’I pray that the party overcome or
realise the need to overcome these forces within the PDP that are
placing selfish ambition and ego above the need to build a strong party
that can take over power at the centre.
‘’I am very prayerful and let me say
that at this point, I am hopeful that these forces that are trying to
tear the party have the capacity to take the party from one crisis to
another and to generate another crisis.
‘’I pray that the party survives these
internal forces. I have always believed that this country needs two
strong parties. I have said that over and over again that we need a
strong cohesive party in government, which incidentally, the All
Progressives Congress is not. We should also pray for the APC to get
their act together.
‘’Ideally, Nigeria needs a strong
opposition party. I agree with what a former Head of State, Gen.
Abdusalami Abubakar, said a few days ago that the PDP had disappointed
Nigerians and not truly living to be a strong party in opposition.
‘’That is very sad. I, as a person, am
an opposition man and I am very comfortable being in the opposition.
There are not many governors who can survive the kind of election I
survived. I believe that my party has a lot of work to do and we should
pray for it so that the country can have a real taste of two strong
parties.’’
The governor expressed hope that the
proposed convention of the party coming up in November would be able to
address the internal problems of the PDP.
Dickson added, ‘’We are proposing to
have a convention. Let us see how it goes. I think basically, the PDP is
suffering from having a preponderance of people who have never tasted
opposition politics.
“All their politics has always been with
the party at the centre using everything for their election. They
should learn from what we did here. I am the only governor, who has won a
governorship re-election in this state on the platform of a party that
is different from the party at the centre, the only one so far.
“Of all the governors, now, I am the only one that has won a re-election when the centre is a different party.”
‘’Now, I think later in November, we
shall see what happens in Anambra State. A number of people take this
background for granted. So, I pray that the PDP survives. Nigeria needs
the PDP; Nigeria needs a strong party in opposition. I wish my party and
the Nigeria’s democracy the best.’’
The governor also instituted a
whistle-blowing policy to tackle the incidence of payroll frauds,
absentee worker syndrome, certificate forgers, among others.
To that extent, Dickson had opened a
toll-free phone lines for whistle-blowers to send their findings, saying
that the identities of informants would be treated with utmost
confidentiality.
He lamented situations where some public
workers in the state were collecting salaries from multiple sources
while some payroll syndicates were also collecting money of dead workers
and involved in so many fraudulent activities that make the state to
bleed every month.
‘’We have got to clean up the system so
as to clean up the mess. For those involved in certificate forgery and
racketeering, I wish to advise them to take a honourable bow. We have
set up a panel that will handle the prosecution of criminals in the
system,’’ Dickson stated.
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