Dickson faults Odigie-Oyegun’s N440bn allocation comment

The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has faulted the position of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, over claims that Bayelsa had received over N440bn as federal allocations with nothing to show for it.

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson

Dickson said though his administration was not disturbed by the “distorted and show of ignorance” by the APC on issues of governance and development in the state, the position of Odigie-Oyegun was “ill-informed and uncharitable.”

Dickson was reacting to a statement made on behalf of the APC national chairman by the APC National Vice-Chairman, South-South, Hilliard Eta, while formally receiving a former Chief of Staff, Bayelsa State Government House, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Community Secondary School, Kpansia, Yenagoa, Odigie-Oyegun was quoted as saying that Dickson’s administration had received about N440bn since its inception without anything to show for the huge sum.

But Dickson in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, on Tuesday, said his administration on assumption of office in February 2012, inherited a massive debt profile of N332bn from the administration of Chief Timipre Sylva.

He said, “Through prudent management and commitment to the ethos of good governance, that debt today stands at N90bn.

“Out of the N440bn that his government received as allocation from the Federation Account, about N242bn was used to help pay that debt even as we embarked on an unprecedented level of infrastructural development and socio-economic welfare schemes.

“This is why the Bayelsa State government considers as very uncharitable, the statement attributed to APC chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that the government has nothing to show for that allocation from the centre.

“The APC chairman’s posture is highly curious, given that he had warned against defections to his party, after its victory at the March 2015 presidential elections, advising potential defectors to remain in their existing parties and help build a virile opposition in the interest of the development of the nation’s democracy.

“So, why is the APC now welcoming the sudden influx of power prostitutes and fair weather politicians, who spin cock and bull stories into its fold?”

He urged Odigie-Oyegun to kindly leave the Bayelsa government out of the APC’s “growing confusion.”

The governor said that his government was preoccupied with changing the lives of Bayelsa residents for good and that the government was committed to good governance, infrastructural development and empowerment of the people.

“If the APC is expecting the defectors it is now welcoming with open arms to win the governorship election in the state, they will have to wait till eternity. Bayelsans have no time for political miscreants,” he added.

Dickson faults Odigie-Oyegun’s N440bn allocation comment