Dickson, Sylva’s loyalists bicker over APC factional crisis

Loyalists of former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, are at daggers drawn with Governor Seriake Dickson over the factional crisis in the All Progressives Congress in the state.

The APC in the state is accusing Dickson of being the brain behind the crisis by funding and sponsoring the crisis.

State Chairman of the APC, Chief Tiwei Orunimighe, alleged on Monday that the preliminary investigation conducted by the leaders of the party showed that Dickson was the sponsor of the crisis that had hit the fold.

He also claimed that he was working in concert with security agencies in the state to perpetrate the factional crisis.

Orunimighe described the factional move by some aggrieved leaders, led by former Security Adviser in the state, Chief Richard Kpodo, as an act by political jobbers and blackmailers.

He said, “Ordinarily, we would have ignored him given his antecedents and the fact that he has been expelled with ignominy from the party, but for the benefit of the unwary good people of  Nigeria and Bayelsa State in particular who may be oblivious of his tainted background as a blackmailer and political jobber.

“We hereby urge the people to disregard Kpodo as he is a drowning man that has constituted himself into a nuisance in the state and a stooge in the hand of the Governor Seriake Dickson administration.

“We are not unaware of the antecedents of Kpodoh. He has always lent himself useful as an agent of destabilisation in state. This has been his way of life. That is why he is today being used by the Bayelsa State Government to cause confusion in the APC. He will not succeed.

Reacting to the insinuation, Dickson urged the leadership of the APC not to drag him into their politics, saying the APC was the architect of whatever was happening in its fold.

The Governor, who distanced himself from the multiple crises rocking the state chapter of the APC, insisted that he is “too preoccupied with the business of governance.”

Dickson, who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said, “Though the State Governor would want to be left out of the ongoing factional crisis within the APC, the leaders of the APC are the architect of their crisis with the recent acceptance of failed and questionable politicians into its fold.

“Governor Seriake Dickson is too preoccupied with the business of governance and is determined to transform the lives of Bayelsans for good as it is already evident in his transparent administration, commitment to good governance, landmark infrastructural development, empowerment of the people, free compulsory and qualitative education, social welfare payments to the elderly and unprecedented health infrastructure.

“Orunimighe and his ilk in the troubled APC in Bayelsa State should look for someone else to blame for the party’s many troubles because clearly by opening its doors and welcoming all sorts of characters steeped in treachery, it is not surprising that APC is born and bred in crisis.

“The APC Chairman should kindly leave the Bayelsa State Government out of the APC growing confusion.”