Dickson opens up on ‘forceful’ takeover of Bayelsa by APC

 

• Says APC seeking legitimacy with Jonathan’s name

 

BY OUR EDITOR

Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of using the name of former President Goodluck Jonathan to give legitimacy to the alleged electoral fraud the party committed during the just-concluded governorship election in the state.

Speaking for the first time since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the candidate of the opposition APC, David Lyon, winner of the hotly contested gubernatorial election, Dickson who addressed a press conference in Yenagoa on Tuesday, said the move was a strategy designed by the APC leaders to justify the irregularities and the takeover of Bayelsa “by force.”

Some APC leaders, including the governor-elect, David Lyon, Jigawa State governor, Abubakar Badaru, Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipreye Sylva, had visited Jonathan after the APC defeated the PDP in the Bayelsa governorship election.

Dickson, according to THE PUNCH report, said the APC leaders were aware that Jonathan did not contribute to their manipulation of the electoral process to win against the PDP.

“That’s why they had to be taking David Lyon to him (Jonathan). They had to be talking about him; they had to visit him and appear to be celebrating a victory never earned.

“Like Pontius Pilate, they are preparing the window by which they will wash their hands strategically, and put it at his (Jonathan) doorstep; that he endorsed, sanctioned (and) legitimised it. That’s the game they are playing,” Dickson said.

He, however, declared he had “implicit confidence” in the judiciary to deliver justice on the pre-election related cases filed before it and called on his supporters to show restraint and not resort to violence.

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