Immediate past governor of Bayelsa State and serving Senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has asked Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area (KOLGA) stakeholders to continually give their support to their son, Governor Douye Diri, to enable him succeed. He gave the advice when the stakeholders, comprising Chiefs, Elders, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus members and political appointees from KOLGA, paid him a thank-you visit on Monday for his support and political engineering that led to the emergence of Diri as the governor of the state.

Speaking during the occasion in his Toru Orua country home Dickson said: “I and the PDP went through a tough fight to ensure inclusiveness and fairness in Bayelsa State, by Governor Diri’s election as the Bayelsa State governor and Senator Lawrence Evhrujakpo as the Deputy Governor.

“Now and forever, there will be no minorities in Bayelsa State politics.”

Dickson noted that it was a tough fight to select one person among equally qualified, loyal members of the PDP and the Bayelsa State Government at the time. He said that, in the end, the question of equity and fairness tilted the balance in favour of Diri from KOLGA, where there had never been a governor and Deputy Governor.

According to Sen. Dickson, “With Evhrujakpo from Ofoni as Deputy Governor, it was a conclusive proof that there are no more minorities in Bayelsa and that anyone, from any local government area or community, no matter their number or size, can become anything with the right platform, network and capacity.”

He said he would have left office with a moral burden if he had decided on his successor only based on numerical strength of where the PDP candidate came from. He noted that the fight would have been easier but it would have left him with a huge moral encumbrance.

Crediting God with the feat, Dickson enjoined KOLGA people to “stand by Governor Diri because a leader is not a leader without trusted followers.” He emphasised that they “should stay with Governor Diri, pray for him, advise him and guide him” as this will make the fight they went through worthy at the end of Governor Diri’s tenure.

Dickson said that if it happened otherwise, people would say that they supported somebody unworthy, and that, even they, KOLGA had been fighting to be governor for a very long time and when they were given, they failed. He said that should not happen.

Speaking earlier, the KOLGA stakeholders said they were in Toru Orua to say “thank you” to Sen. Dickson, for supporting their son through his political engineering that enabled him emerge the governor of the state. They also thanked PDP for providing the platform for their son to get the mandate and subsequently win the Bayelsa governorship election.

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