Bayelsa APC Chairman, Dickson In War Of Words

By Igoniko Oduma,Yenagoa THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State has accused Governor Seriake Dickson of doing everything within his power to destabilise the party ahead the governorship election in the state. The state chairman of the party, Tiwei Orunimighe, made the allegation in a statement at the weekend in Yenagoa. He said Dickson was bent on instigating crisis in the party to create factions and weaken it to the advantage of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the processes for the governorship election would begin. He also alleged that the police in the state was also allowing itself to be used as an agent of doom by the governor. According to him, the governor had been allegedly funding and sponsoring some disgruntled APC elements to perpetually keep the party divided along factional lines. Orunimighe, former chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in the administration of former Governor Timipre Sylva, alleged that Dickson enlisted a chieftain of the party, Perekeme Kpodoh, who had been expelled from the party, to foment trouble in the party. “Kpodoh has constituted himself into a nuisance in the state and a stooge in the hands of the Governor Seriake Dickson administration in the state. “We are not unaware of the antecedents of Kpodoh. He has always lent himself useful as an agent of destabilisation in state. This has been his way of life. “That is why he is today been used by the Bayelsa State government to cause confusion in the APC. He will not succeed,” he said. But, reacting to the allegations, Dickson said the APC should blame itself for accepting failed and questionable politicians into its fold. Dickson, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, absolved himself of any involvement in the party’s confusion, stressing that “he is too preoccupied with the business of governance”. “Governor Seriake Dickson is too preoccupied with the business of governance and is determined to transform the lives of Bayelsans for good. “Tiwei and his ilk in the troubled APC in Bayelsa State should look for someone else to blame for the party’s many troubles. “Clearly, the APC opened its doors and welcomed all sorts of characters steeped in treachery. “It is therefore not surprising that APC was born and bred in crisis. But, Tiwei should kindly leave the Bayelsa State government out of the growing confusion in APC,” he said.