The National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has said that the heavy defeat
that awaits the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, come Saturday’s governorship
elections in Bayelsa is now causing panic within the Governor Seriake Dickson
camp.
He said that the Governor caused
President Muhammadu Buhari pain by collecting bailout funds but never used them
for benefit of Bayelsans.
The national Working Committee of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Oshiomhole, the Deputy Senate
President, Ovie Omo-Agege, four state governors led by the Jigawa Governor and
Chairman of the APC Governorship campaign council for Bayelsa, Mohammed Badaru
Abubakar, Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio and others attended
the grand rally of the party in support of Chief David Lyon, APC candidate for
the Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State.
The rally of the APC was held at
the Oxbow Lake Pavilion in Yenagoa, where the APC leadership mocked the PDP-led
administration for failing the state.
Speaking, Oshiomhole said,
“Dickson is panicking, how can he not panic when the Lion has arrived. Who will
not panic when you cannot point at the schools you have built and the Lion is
coming, won’t you panic?
“When you borrowed as much as he
has borrowed to do things that people cannot see and now a Lion is coming to
ask questions, why won’t you panic?
“When you are been accused of
spending almost a N100 billion to construct less than three and a half
kilometers runway but nothing is running, and there is no way and you go there
with your pajamas and you are crying and you want them to open the airport and
the Lion is coming to ask you to account, won’t you panic?
“So, I think Governor Dickson
deserves our sympathy. But the best he can do is not to complicate his own
problem by resorting to violence. It will not help me, it cannot take him more
and he cannot survive it.
“Let me say here and now, we
believe in one man, one vote, one woman, one vote, one Dickson one vote, and of
course one Lyon one vote. With the votes we already have Dickson belongs to
history. He has mismanaged not only the governance of Bayelsa State, he has
mismanaged the Bayelsa family as a people.
“He saw power as something that
intoxicates, nobody else matters, everybody was to serve him even those who
have held senior national positions that helped him to where he is today. He
thought the Okra tree could be taller than those who planted it. But come
Saturday November 16, he will know the truth that the Okra tree cannot be
taller than the person who planted it.
“That leads me to why we are
here. You see, if you hear of Lion when you see him, his looks, the way he
speaks, for those who understands psychology, you will see a harmless, humble
gentleman, when they tell you this is a Lion you have to touch him to know the
difference.
“You know like they say, it is
the empty drum that makes more noise. The Lion has grown up in this community,
he has experienced what the ordinary Bayelsans have experienced. He knows the
true meaning of poverty, he understands how poverty dehumanizes. He has
struggled against the forces of reaction, he is an example of what is possible
when a man is focused.
“Today, I believe that the people
of Bayelsa State by coming out on Saturday to vote for one of your own, you
will be making a bold statement that indeed this democracy that anybody who is
focused who is determined, who remains with his people, mix with people and
community, who empowers ordinary people, when he is out for change you will
support him.
“Dickson will soon find out that
democracy is an equalizer. When you think that you are bigger than anyone, on
election day you will discover that the unemployed, the deprived, the abused,
the deceived, on that day they are all equal.
“So I asked you that on Saturday
that you will show more enthusiasm even much more that you have shown before.
On Saturday, you must go out and vote, we do not believe in violence, not by
bullet but by PVC. Dickson and his agents will be voted out and Lyon and his
running mate will be voted in.
“Let me assure you that President
Muhammadu Buhari is fully here with us in spirit. He says he will give Lyon all
the support he needs to make up for lost time. The President is pained.
President Buhari gave Dickson, like other governors, bail out number one to go
and pay salaries but Dickson collected the money and the workers were not paid.
“He gave the second one and he
paid his family. Dickson got the refund of Paris Club, monies that were
deducted from the tenure of his predecessors. It was refunded to him in
billions, Dickson took it and Bayelsa is under darkness. To hear that for a
state like Bayelsa with the revenue that accrues to you that even civil
servants are not paid after all these monies have been released, even if you
don’t punish him, your ballot papers will punish him.
“He who climbs power and destroys
the ladder that he used, will you be able to come down? So I ask you to join me
in this prayers: Oh Lord, we the people of Bayelsa State eight years ago, we
came to vote for a man called Dickson, we trusted him, we believe in patience,
our leaders who we trust ask us to vote for him, in our innocence we give him,
four years later we had mixed feelings, we were told give him second chance
that he will repent from his sins and he will take Bayelsa to the next level,
Lord it is eight years he has mortgaged our future, he borrowed from all the
banks in Nigeria in the name of only one project and even that project is not
on. Lord, we know we trusted him, now with you we are powerful.”
Earlier, the Minister of State
for Petroleum Resources and leader of the party in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre
Sylva, who spoke in a veiled reference to the judgment against Senator
Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, running mate to Lyon accused the PDP of throwing
all kinds of obstacles on the way of the opposition in the state, but said that
the party was too strong to be weakened by such antics.
“They have gone to every court in
the land to try and discourage us. But the APC is stronger and more powerful
than they think,” he said.
In his remarks, an elated Chief
David Lyon expressed gratitude to Bayelsans for their support, promising better
days ahead if elected governor.
“Today, the people of Bayelsa
State have spoken, for almost eight years just barely two months to leave
office, PDP has been ruling this state in darkness. Let me assure you that I
know what is development, I am somebody who is close to you and I want to
assure Bayelsans, November 16 after being elected and sworn in on February 14,
2020, Bayelsa will see development.
“I know what it takes to solve
insecurity. With the traditional rulers, youths and women we will solve
insecurity and when we have handled insecurity, what is next is development.
“APC is not coming to deceive you
people, no. Let me tell you that this election is not about David Lyon, it is
about Bayelsa State, so let us stand firm to vote PDP out of this state.
“Bayelsans let me assure you
today that David Lyon and Senator Degi Eremienyo pair will not disappoint you,
I will never disappoint you, APC will never disappoint Bayelsa. I am saying
this in the presence of my leaders. This election is not about Bayelsa, its
about Ijaw nation because the present PDP government is not respecting the
leaders of Ijaw nation. APC government will unite Ijaw people.”
Earlier Governors Badaru of
Jigawa and his Osun State counterpart, Gboyega Oyetola, had in their separate
remarks, urged the people of the state to come out in their numbers to vote for
the APC on Saturday, and join the league of progressive states.
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