From Seyi Tayese, Yenagoa
The need for the people of Bayelsa West Senatorial District to jettison zoning and focus on the competence and political sagacity of incumbent Senator Seriake Dickson as sole candidate across party lines for the forthcoming 2027 National Assembly polls has been stressed.
This, they say, shall give room for stronger consolidation of leadership ranking in NASS as well as shift power to a capable indigene of Ekeremor stock for the 2028 Governorship poll.
Former Minority Leader in the 6th Bayelsa House of Assembly, and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Bayelsa West Senatorial poll, Hon. Wilson Ayakpo Dauyegha (WAD) who contested against the incumbent, threw his weight behind Senator Seriake Dickson third term senatorial ambition ,as he made this known at a press briefing in Ekeremor Town recently.
Hon. Dauyegha, who spoke under the aegis of the WAD Progressive Grassroots Vanguard, condemned a statement credited to a pro-zoning group dubbed EKELGA Movement for Political Fairness kicking against the incumbent senator from contesting a third term.
WAD who described the statement by the faceless group barring Senator Dickson from contesting a third term, as reckless and capable of inciting the people to an avoidable political impasse which does no good.
In his speech, WAD is quoted as stating categorically:
According to WAD speech, “Sagbama and Ekeremor which comprises the West Senatorial District are one. Both Councils have been peaceful and lived together in peace and political harmony even before the creation of the State. So why does the EKELGA Fairness Group give the impression that both LGAs are at war over political zoning? No, that’s not true. We are brothers and we work assiduously for peace and progress of the district.”
The WAD Progressive Group hinted that they are fully in support of incumbent Senator Dickson running for Senate seat again as this firms him up for the Office of the Senate President or Deputy or even being nominated as Minority Leader in the Red Chambers, if Senator Dickson is given a third time opportunity. Being among the Senate’s Principal Officers, shall be of better benefits for his constituents thank bringing in a greenhorn for the job.
WAD called on the anti-Dickson’s EKELGA group to look beyond pecuniary benefits and see the bigger picture of agitating for Ekeremor to produce the next governor of Bayelsa State rather than bandy words on senatorial zoning as EKELGA has more to gain in governorship come 2028 than in the 2027 senate tussle!
The former Minority Leader, Hon Dauyegha, highlighted some of the strides of Senator Dickson as a former two time governor, to include the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road; scholarships and bursaries to indigent undergraduates and post graduate students beyond Bayelsa West District to all parts of the state, amongst other accomplishments.
“We call on Senator Dickson to contest for a record third term as Senator in the Red Upper Chambers. He is assured of the support of EKELGA political elites with their grassroots electorate who shall vote for him as the sole candidate of all major parties. We in EKELGA shall retain the House of Representatives slot and appeal that the Governorship slot for the two major political parties be the exclusive preserve for an astute political conscious indigene of Ekeremor stock as EKELGA is the only LGA that has never produced a governor for the oil-rich Bayelsa State, Twenty-Nine years after creation.”
The Press rejoinder by WAD and his group, condemned the move by self acclaimed EKELGA Movement for Political Fairness, as being selfish and a disservice to EKELGANs and the people of Bayelsa West Region for not taking into account meritocracy as a moral measure for public service of which Dickson has surpassed the expectations of all with robust motions, bills and over sight advocacies which are mind blowing.
The Group called on Governor Douye Diri to caution such misdirected groups as they are comprised of appointees in the Prosperity Government who are Academic Staff in the state-owned tertiary institutions as this not only gives them as being sponsored by the Governor but it is also circumspect as they should be apolitical and focus on research in their higher institutions of service.
“Let these meddlesome Interlopers leave politics for politicians. Some of the signatories are lecturers. Let them concentrate in their classrooms. Others are political appointees in the Prosperity Government. They are the type of person’s that are peddling insinuations of unexisting rifts between Diri and Dickson.”
“Through their public acts of advocating zoning in Bayelsa West which we all know, bars Senator Dickson for contesting again, these select few appointees from EKELGA stock are sending a wrong message to the public capable of inciting hate and disloyalty in the polity.”
“They should disembark and let us all rally round Dickson as he is the best candidate for the job for now. In Western climes of the US and UK, legislators stay as much as 30 years and above. This gives room for consolidation. And like old wine, it can only get better and sweeter with the passage of time ” WAD concluded.
