Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said that the defection of less than ten out of 3,000 appointees of his Restoration Administration was too infinitesimal to hamper the victory of his party, the Peoples Democrat Party (PDP) in the April 16, gubernatorial election in the state.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted the governor as having given the assurance during the inauguration of 32 Chairmen of Rural Development Areas, at the Government House, Yenagoa, the state capital, on Tuesday.
He said, “Those who are writing about the defections from our party, let me make it clear that in our government we have over 3,000 appointees. The resignation or defection of ten appointees out the appointees is too small a number to resister a negative effect on our party and its chances in the election.
“Come to think of it. Each of you, the G32, you have between 10-14 appointees under you, and if you multiply 32 by 14, you have the sheer number of grassroots appointment.”
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“This does not include of the 105 councilors, 8 local government chairmen and their deputies and several others. So how many are the other party compared to us. They cannot defeat us, it is not possible” He said
The governor said despite the desperation and use of federal might and other agencies of government in 2015, the APC failed in its bid to wrest control of political from the PDP.
The said that it was a fact beyond contestation that the opposition APC lacks the requisite presence to win a gubernatorial election in the state against the PDP.
The governor charged the Chairmen of the RDAs to move to the headquarters of their local government areas, mobilise support for the victory of the PDP and its candidate, Sen. Douye Diri, in order to consolidate on the developmental exploits of the Restoration administration.
“There is no doubt that you cannot compare our candidate and the opposition candidate but it is for you to go and mobilise and tell our people why they must vote for consolidation in the development of education, healthcare, road, bridges agriculture and others.
“Why they must vote for security and stability in our state. Tell our people the danger of the other side because they believe in militancy, cultism, violence, drug abuse and violence.”
Governor Dickson said both the first civilian governor of the state, late Chief DSP Alamiyeiseigha and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan created 24 and additional eight RDAs to take the number to 32 in view of the critical role it plays as the closest form of government to the grassroots.
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The Governor who stressed the importance of the RDAs to the stability and development of communities in the various local government areas of the state directed the Commissioner for Health and Security Team to engage the new Chairmen on the enrollment into the Health Insurance Scheme.
The governor mandated the RDA Chairmen to inaugurate their members within a period of two days and charged them to give priority to his programme to support the elderly, which would be anchored by the RDA’s,
In their separate acceptance speeches, Chairman, Ayama RDA, Mr. Dickson Ikegima and his Mini Ikensi counterpart, Mildred Kilete, thanked Governor Dickson for the opportunity to serve their people and promised to deliver on their mandate.
The duo commended the Governor for his gender friendly policies and stressed the need to mobilise support at the grassroots for the actualization òf the victory of PDP and its governorship candidate, Sen. Douye Diri.
