As hard as he tries to assure Bayelsans, and members of the Restoration Team contesting the September 3 primary, to become Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) flag-bearer for the November 16 governorship polls, that he does not have a preferred candidate, many still claim that Governor Seriaki Dickson’s ambition to retire to the Nigerian senate, after he vacates Creek House, is ‘the catch’ for him in ensuring who wins.
Like some of his colleagues who are now at the senate, after vacating their seat as governors, Dickson, many claim, wants to retire to the Nigerian senate after his run as governor of Bayelsa.
This is notwithstanding his saying that he would retire to full- time farming and teaching when his tenure ends on February 14, next year. Dickson has farms in Bayelsa and Nassarawa states.
There are few who also allege that the governor, irrespective of his continued disclaimers, wants, for whatever reasons, a surrogate governor that could cover his back when he is out of government house.
Not to talk of those who argue that, like many before him, the Bayelsa governor may sell the party to a candidate that is willing to pander to the opposition, in line with the now –trending- acts by past governors to save career, name and acquisitions.
Those watching the Dickson moves and calculations posit that he is moving his might and resources to ensure either the senator representing Bayelsa Central, Duoye Diri or the Secretary to the state government, Kemala Okara, gets the delegates nod.
This alleged Dickson’s drive to actualise his senate dream, many are saying, could lead to delegates’ tradeoff and untoward acts during the primary.
If the Dickson’s claimed senatorial ambition is true, then both Okara and Diri provide for him the roadmap for realizing it.
It is believed that whoever wins, out of the two, has agreed to pick the senator representing Bayelsa West senatorial zone, Ewhrudjakpo Lawrence, as running mate. Once this is achieved the road would be clear, technically, for the outgoing governor to fill the vacant senatorial seat.
Lawrence was appointed commissioner of works and infrastructure by Dickson in 2012. He was reappointed in 2016 until August 2018, when he vacated the position to run for Bayelsa West Senatorial zone. He won the elections.
Bayelsa politics watchers argue that Lawrence ran for the post by the prompting and support of the governor, after agreeing that he would hold that position in trust for Dickson pending when he leaves government house.
Lawrence, is an Urhobo man, from Ofoni, a minority tribe in Bayelsa state. He is also from the same local government, Sagbama, and senatorial zone, Bayelsa west, with Dickson.
Those close to Creek House, Yenagoa, say, ordinarily, Dickson would not pitch tents with Diri or Okara as successor but for his ambition to go to the senate after leaving Creek House, which the candidacy of the senator and the SSG offer him.
But all these are in the realm of conjectures, says one who is intrigued by the Dickson phenomenon. According to him, “the governor’s love for the state and his people and his democratic credentials would be his guiding principle in ensuring there is a level-playing field; a position he has continued to hammer on”.
The question that Bayelsans are now asking is, would the delegates vote for the interest of the state and its people or they would fall for the lures of one man’s ambition?
