Bayelsa born former policeman turned politician Serikae Dickson prepared himself in public advocacy through his training in law school after quitting the police. Dickson started his political advocacy from the left and had the distinguished record of being the only state chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, AD in the South-South to produce a senator, members of the House of Representatives
and the House of Assembly at the onset of democratic rule in 1999. He fought the establishment as then represented by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP till he was enticed into government by Governor Goodluck Jonathan who he served as Attorney General. Entering into government, however, did not stop his life of political struggles especially after he translated from the executive branch in Yenogoa to the House of Representatives. For most of his time in the House he was on edge as he became a proxy object in the political warfare between Governor Timipire Sylva and Vice President Jonathan. Against all permutations from the political leadership in Yenogoa as directed by Governor Sylva, he won re-election in 2011, and the following year served Governor Sylva the ultimate comeuppance when with the unpretentious support of President Jonathan, he snatched the PDP ticket from him.
Taking over the Bayelsa Government House, however, did not mean the end of his life of battles as he confessed during two interview sessions conducted in Yenogoa and Lagos. Dismissing the recent wave of defections from the ruling PDP, he said “what I survived in the last three years from higher and more dangerous quarters is far more dangerous than all these decamping put together!”
Now pitched in the battle for re-election, Governor Dickson counts the good luck of President Jonathan as one of his props asserting that Jonathan, who weaned him from his wars against the rightwing establishment remains supportive of him as ever. Even more, he cites his development credentials on ground as the leverage he would use to overcome what he describes as the latest conspiracy against him. Excerpts:
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor and Samuel Oyadongha
Why are your colleagues in the PDP running away from your party?
Yes some leaders of our party are decamping but you have to understand their background. Almost all of them who are decamping want to be governors and these persons know that within PDP they have no way of becoming governorship flag bearers of the party. For them it means going to another platform to fight for Governorship ticket to contest the election. But APC in Bayelsa is not a party on ground and do not be deceived, even at national level they are crumbling. You will see PDP will rise again very soon. APC in Bayelsa is a political party that has no membership following but has only Governorship candidates; the members are only governorship aspirants. Where was APC when we conducted the House of Assembly election? How many APC legislators do we have in Bayelsa?
Project for project
This is a PDP state, this is a PDP stronghold. Two factors come into play, ambition which is legitimate as long as they do not resort to violence for we are brothers and sisters and friends and I remain their governor.
We are waiting to see who their candidate will be that can match’ the talk na do Governor project for project, vision for vision, ideas for ideas. We are waiting for a very robust campaign.
Apart from those who are going in because of their ambition, we will see what happens after their primaries because I have not done anything bad to any of them, it is all politics and some are just calling a dog a bad name.
You are also aware that our party for the first time lost power at the centre and I think it is immoral for the people who have been nurtured by the PDP over the years to defect. Many decamp because of personal ambition and to be available for federal appointment. Well, we can only wish them well.
The way our former President left office, I believe the next election is not about me or PDP. It is about the dignity and pride of Ijaw nation, a people who have been humiliated at the federal level like this because they say we are few and our people who should hold the home base are the ones jumping ship. I do not have any problems even with the leader of the opposition party in the state, the former governor. He is my friend and brother but his politics is what I disagree with.
But his own case is even understandable because he was there as part of the formation of the APC for whatever personal reasons. But people who stayed with us till we did elections should know APC does not need them.
Where were they when APC was battling to get votes and register their party to secure votes for their president? They think because we have lost, the Ijaw nation should be humiliated and they are not going quietly. They are the ones that are taking but the good news is that the ordinary people of Ijaw nation will rise up and say no to this display of greed of the highest order where people cannot subordinate their own personal greed for position at the federal level for the common good.
Gov Dickson
Your opponents say you are tight fisted
We are getting less than 25% of the allocation that we used to get when I started. So, almost everything that we receive goes to service the cost of running government to the extent that for some months, three, four months, that I even don’t receive any allowance because that is a sacrifice that we must make to enable us meet our basic obligations, firstly to our workers. You cannot be owing workers and be paying contractors because they are politicians.
That is wrong. That is unpatriotic. That is criminal. In any case, if someone is saying that he did a job and that we are owing and we cant pay, is the man who gives you a job an enemy? It is ingratitude. As a matter of fact, what is going on in Bayelsa is political betrayal of the highest order. It is a harvest of ingratitude.
All of them are my contractors. All of them! And they didn’t come begging. We sent for them, that they are stakeholders to support them. I have run a more inclusive government than any other governor I have seen in Bayelsa.
As we speak, Alaibe has his own nominees serving in the government at all levels, commissioner level, special adviser level all levels.
I feel bad at what some of these people are doing, but it would not stop me from being good and nice, it just teaches me more about the capacity of human beings for ingratitude and for evil because individually, I have done nothing against any one of them. Individually, I have been good to each and to all of them. I have consulted them on government policies and decisions more than they would ever consult any other person.
The picture they are painting is propaganda, just to justify their treachery and betrayal.
Take for example, Stella Dorgu, when I left to become governor and my seat in the House of Representatives was vacant and I introduced her to her people for the first time and against all opposition, I garnered support to send her to the House of Representatives.
Senate position
Now she wanted to go back to the House of Representatives and because the Senate position was coming to my local government and she expressed interest for the Senate but the other gentleman is a better Senate material. Now looking back I think we made the right decision in going with him because she has truly brought out her true colours.
If I were her, this is a time that she should have stood by me and by the party that gave her the opportunity to go to the House of Representatives.
Why is it that you faced serious opposition in your contests in 2012 and now 2015?
Elections are political contests. What I managed in 2012 was even worse than the present situation. All my colleagues in the National Assembly, including my senator, Senator Lokpobiri, all of them supported Sylva and I weathered a lot of opposition. It wasn’t personal, it was all politics, ambition, political calculation. That is why when I became governor, I worked with all of them.
Take Senator Lokpobiri, my senator at the time I was contesting for governor. He never supported me. Now he wanted to go back to the Senate, but my people said no, you have done two terms, let someone else go. That is now a political offence. ‘I wanted to be senator, you didn’t support me. I wanted to go to the House of Representatives you didn’t support me. I wanted to go to House of Assembly, you didn’t support me, therefore, I am going to APC.’ That is what is happening.
So, will you keep nominees of those you call betrayers in your government?
I have a large political heart. What I have managed in the last three years, the details will come out when I write my memoirs. It is only a politician with a large heart, a politician who has the grace of God and a politician who has experience and tact that could have survived what I went through. What I survived in the last three years from higher and more dangerous quarters is far more dangerous than all these decamping put together! So, I am not moved because I am used to it.
Personal attack
I am used to surviving tempests, I am used to managing storms. What I see as a personal attack from the APC will not scratch me.
I managed in a state House of Assembly where I did not have one single member for three and a half years. All the members in the House of Assembly from 2012 when I took over till June this year were all put there by Governor Sylva. Yet, with the incitements, with the conspiracies, with the impeachment plans from highest political levels.. that should give you an idea as to our experience, our tact and capacity to manage tendencies.
So, what is your relationship with the former president and his family?
Very cordial. The former president remains my elder brother and my leader and we are working closely. If there is anyone who believes and is supportive of why I should be re-elected, it is former President Jonathan.
How were you able to manage the excesses of the former first lady?
I don’t know what you mean by excesses!
You can tell that off the record
I don’t have any off the record!
and the House of Assembly at the onset of democratic rule in 1999. He fought the establishment as then represented by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP till he was enticed into government by Governor Goodluck Jonathan who he served as Attorney General. Entering into government, however, did not stop his life of political struggles especially after he translated from the executive branch in Yenogoa to the House of Representatives. For most of his time in the House he was on edge as he became a proxy object in the political warfare between Governor Timipire Sylva and Vice President Jonathan. Against all permutations from the political leadership in Yenogoa as directed by Governor Sylva, he won re-election in 2011, and the following year served Governor Sylva the ultimate comeuppance when with the unpretentious support of President Jonathan, he snatched the PDP ticket from him.
Taking over the Bayelsa Government House, however, did not mean the end of his life of battles as he confessed during two interview sessions conducted in Yenogoa and Lagos. Dismissing the recent wave of defections from the ruling PDP, he said “what I survived in the last three years from higher and more dangerous quarters is far more dangerous than all these decamping put together!”
Now pitched in the battle for re-election, Governor Dickson counts the good luck of President Jonathan as one of his props asserting that Jonathan, who weaned him from his wars against the rightwing establishment remains supportive of him as ever. Even more, he cites his development credentials on ground as the leverage he would use to overcome what he describes as the latest conspiracy against him. Excerpts:
By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor and Samuel Oyadongha
Why are your colleagues in the PDP running away from your party?
Yes some leaders of our party are decamping but you have to understand their background. Almost all of them who are decamping want to be governors and these persons know that within PDP they have no way of becoming governorship flag bearers of the party. For them it means going to another platform to fight for Governorship ticket to contest the election. But APC in Bayelsa is not a party on ground and do not be deceived, even at national level they are crumbling. You will see PDP will rise again very soon. APC in Bayelsa is a political party that has no membership following but has only Governorship candidates; the members are only governorship aspirants. Where was APC when we conducted the House of Assembly election? How many APC legislators do we have in Bayelsa?
Project for project
This is a PDP state, this is a PDP stronghold. Two factors come into play, ambition which is legitimate as long as they do not resort to violence for we are brothers and sisters and friends and I remain their governor.
We are waiting to see who their candidate will be that can match’ the talk na do Governor project for project, vision for vision, ideas for ideas. We are waiting for a very robust campaign.
Apart from those who are going in because of their ambition, we will see what happens after their primaries because I have not done anything bad to any of them, it is all politics and some are just calling a dog a bad name.
You are also aware that our party for the first time lost power at the centre and I think it is immoral for the people who have been nurtured by the PDP over the years to defect. Many decamp because of personal ambition and to be available for federal appointment. Well, we can only wish them well.
The way our former President left office, I believe the next election is not about me or PDP. It is about the dignity and pride of Ijaw nation, a people who have been humiliated at the federal level like this because they say we are few and our people who should hold the home base are the ones jumping ship. I do not have any problems even with the leader of the opposition party in the state, the former governor. He is my friend and brother but his politics is what I disagree with.
But his own case is even understandable because he was there as part of the formation of the APC for whatever personal reasons. But people who stayed with us till we did elections should know APC does not need them.
Where were they when APC was battling to get votes and register their party to secure votes for their president? They think because we have lost, the Ijaw nation should be humiliated and they are not going quietly. They are the ones that are taking but the good news is that the ordinary people of Ijaw nation will rise up and say no to this display of greed of the highest order where people cannot subordinate their own personal greed for position at the federal level for the common good.
Gov Dickson
Your opponents say you are tight fisted
We are getting less than 25% of the allocation that we used to get when I started. So, almost everything that we receive goes to service the cost of running government to the extent that for some months, three, four months, that I even don’t receive any allowance because that is a sacrifice that we must make to enable us meet our basic obligations, firstly to our workers. You cannot be owing workers and be paying contractors because they are politicians.
That is wrong. That is unpatriotic. That is criminal. In any case, if someone is saying that he did a job and that we are owing and we cant pay, is the man who gives you a job an enemy? It is ingratitude. As a matter of fact, what is going on in Bayelsa is political betrayal of the highest order. It is a harvest of ingratitude.
All of them are my contractors. All of them! And they didn’t come begging. We sent for them, that they are stakeholders to support them. I have run a more inclusive government than any other governor I have seen in Bayelsa.
As we speak, Alaibe has his own nominees serving in the government at all levels, commissioner level, special adviser level all levels.
I feel bad at what some of these people are doing, but it would not stop me from being good and nice, it just teaches me more about the capacity of human beings for ingratitude and for evil because individually, I have done nothing against any one of them. Individually, I have been good to each and to all of them. I have consulted them on government policies and decisions more than they would ever consult any other person.
The picture they are painting is propaganda, just to justify their treachery and betrayal.
Take for example, Stella Dorgu, when I left to become governor and my seat in the House of Representatives was vacant and I introduced her to her people for the first time and against all opposition, I garnered support to send her to the House of Representatives.
Senate position
Now she wanted to go back to the House of Representatives and because the Senate position was coming to my local government and she expressed interest for the Senate but the other gentleman is a better Senate material. Now looking back I think we made the right decision in going with him because she has truly brought out her true colours.
If I were her, this is a time that she should have stood by me and by the party that gave her the opportunity to go to the House of Representatives.
Why is it that you faced serious opposition in your contests in 2012 and now 2015?
Elections are political contests. What I managed in 2012 was even worse than the present situation. All my colleagues in the National Assembly, including my senator, Senator Lokpobiri, all of them supported Sylva and I weathered a lot of opposition. It wasn’t personal, it was all politics, ambition, political calculation. That is why when I became governor, I worked with all of them.
Take Senator Lokpobiri, my senator at the time I was contesting for governor. He never supported me. Now he wanted to go back to the Senate, but my people said no, you have done two terms, let someone else go. That is now a political offence. ‘I wanted to be senator, you didn’t support me. I wanted to go to the House of Representatives you didn’t support me. I wanted to go to House of Assembly, you didn’t support me, therefore, I am going to APC.’ That is what is happening.
So, will you keep nominees of those you call betrayers in your government?
I have a large political heart. What I have managed in the last three years, the details will come out when I write my memoirs. It is only a politician with a large heart, a politician who has the grace of God and a politician who has experience and tact that could have survived what I went through. What I survived in the last three years from higher and more dangerous quarters is far more dangerous than all these decamping put together! So, I am not moved because I am used to it.
Personal attack
I am used to surviving tempests, I am used to managing storms. What I see as a personal attack from the APC will not scratch me.
I managed in a state House of Assembly where I did not have one single member for three and a half years. All the members in the House of Assembly from 2012 when I took over till June this year were all put there by Governor Sylva. Yet, with the incitements, with the conspiracies, with the impeachment plans from highest political levels.. that should give you an idea as to our experience, our tact and capacity to manage tendencies.
So, what is your relationship with the former president and his family?
Very cordial. The former president remains my elder brother and my leader and we are working closely. If there is anyone who believes and is supportive of why I should be re-elected, it is former President Jonathan.
How were you able to manage the excesses of the former first lady?
I don’t know what you mean by excesses!
You can tell that off the record
I don’t have any off the record!
No comments:
Post a Comment