DICKSON VISITS VILLA

The reported visit of Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, to the Presidential Villa on Tuesday has pitted the All Progressives Congress against the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

The two front-line political parties in the state have begun to throw tantrums at each other as to the motive of such a visit barely 10 days to the rescheduled governorship poll in the state.

For the APC, Dickson’s visit to the Presidential villa, Abuja was a desperate move to lobby President Muhammadu Buhari over the January 9 rerun election.

The APC said it (party) was glad that President Buhari, who had allegedly received series of abuses and name calling from Dickson did not grant the governor audience.

But the PDP denied reports that Dickson was at the Presidential Villa to see President Buhari but was disallowed to meet with him.

The PDP refuted the report as “lies and figment of the imagination” of the APC, saying the party was wrong to think Dickson would visit Aso Villa without any previous appointment.

But the APC in a statement on Wednesday by the Director, Media and Publicity, Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, Chief Nathan Egba, berated Dickson for name-dropping.

Egba said Dickson had repeatedly alleged that Buhari wanted to use federal might, including the military and the police to rig the election in favour of the APC candidate, former Governor Timipre Sylva.

He said sources in the Presidential villa were surprised to see Dickson around, having stayed away from the villa for the past weeks.

He said Dickson’s request to meet the President was turned down and he was rather directed to meet the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Kyari, for his mission

Egba said, “Governor Seriake Dickson is quite unsettled ahead of the January 9, 2016 rerun election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which is a stronghold of the APC and he is now looking for a soft-landing after the eventual loss of the governorship seat.”

Egba urged President Buhari to be wary of Dickson, whose main plan is to win the election through the use of violence, saying Dickson was adept at intimidating and harassing people to support his reelection.

However, in his response, the Director of Publicity, Restoration Campaign Organisation of the PDP, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, said a reply was not intended as necessity to such statement as it was nothing but APC’s propaganda and recurring lies.

Obuebite said, “ It’s almost like a no brainer for any discerning mind to know that nobody just wakes up in the morning, get dressed and head straight for the villa without being invited or having a prior appointment.

“For crying out loud, it is inconceivable for anyone to assume, much less believe that the Governor of an oil rich state that contributes over 40 per cent of the nation’s wealth will be denied access to see the President.”

Obuebite dismissed the report, describing it as “ non-essential worthy of any response”.

He said the governorship election had already been won and lost, and therefore not surprising that the APC in the state was still carrying on in their usual deception as if they still stood a chance.

“The APC has lost and they know it. No amount of propaganda and blackmail will return them as winners. They have been roundly rejected by the people and we truly sympathise with them because the APC is finished in Bayelsa State,” Obuebite declared.