Stop creating tension, take your grievances to court, APC tells Dickson

Governor denies bid to take fresh loan
The Bayelsa chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has advised Governor Seriake Dickson to stop “creating tension in the state following the electoral defeat of his candidate.”

The party, through its publicity secretary, Doifue Buokoribo, instead enjoined the governor to take his grievances to the courts.

In a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, APC said its piece of advice was “coming amid successions of claims by Dickson after the loss of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate at the November 16,2019 governorship election in the state, Senator Douye Diri.”

The PDP flag-bearer had lost to the APC candidate and Governor-Elect, Chief David Lyon, who won with over 70 per cent of the votes and defeated his opponent in six of the state’s eight local councils.

The statement read in part: “In the last few weeks, since the overwhelming victory of our candidate at the November 16 governorship election, Chief David Lyon, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has inundated the state and, indeed, the country with wild allegations and inciting comments.

“He has screamed blue murder at all relevant institutions of state, from the electoral body to the security agencies, and the winning All Progressives Congress (APC). And he has absolved only himself and his section of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of blame.

“From his furious mind, Dickson has issued threats to the electorate in Bayelsa State and APC members, particularly, and he has boasted about his capacity to unleash violence and turn the state upside down.

“Dickson has displayed everything, but commitment to democratic ideals and legal processes of electoral conflict resolution.”

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Government has said that it was not making any effort to take new loans in the state.

Commissioner for Information, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in a statement yesterday, noted that the state government had not taken any major loans in over two and a half years.

Iworiso-Markson stated further that the government would not present any fresh budget to the House of Assembly for the year 2020, insisting that the 2019 budget would run till the end of the administration on February 14, 2020.

He stressed that the Restoration Government under Dickson’s leadership had not also received any loan advances from any financial institution.

“Governor Dickson is known to have led a transparent and decent government in the last eight years and would not initiate any step that could impact adversely on any incoming administration, the statement reads.