The Bayelsa government, on Thursday said that Gov Douye Diri and his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, have a cordial relationship.

It also dismissed claims that Gov Douye Diri was causing division in the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba, stated this in a statement he issued in Yenagoa while reacting to a news report published in some online platforms.

Describing the report as unscrupulous, Duba said the insinuation that the governor was ungrateful to those who worked for his victory at the 2019 governorship election, particularly his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, “was based on some unverified and bogus assumptions,”

Dickson, who is seeking re-election for Bayelsa West Senate seat had in a statement on Tuesday dissociated himself from the allegation and pledged loyalty to Diri.

Duba said there was no evidence to sustain the claim of disagreement between Diri and the former governor, stressing that it smacked of “beer parlour gossip”.

Duba said the governor was appreciative of support and had rather been a preacher of peace and unity across the state.

The Commissioner explained that Diri had also initiated practical efforts at strengthening and keeping the PDP united as well as enjoyed a cordial relationship with Dickson.

He said if anything, it was the author of the misleading and bad-intentioned piece "that seeks to divide the party along the lines of the former APC members and old PDP members, loyalists of Senator Douye Diri, the Governor and loyalists of Senator Seriake Dickson due to his lack of tact and shallow understanding of party politics and governance.”

Duba said: “On the contrary, these two sons of our state have continued to enjoy harmonious relationship based on mutual respect and in the best interest of our state.

“The Governor has continued to demonstrate good faith and is appreciative to the fingers of God used in making him governor and eternally grateful to God for his elevation.

“In the last two years, the Governor has committed to unifying the party by insisting that every party man has equal right.

“He has also invested a lot of time and energy at bringing back members who defected to other parties and assuaged the concerns of stakeholders, thus fortifying the party.

“The governor has also continued to preach peace and unity among our people and succeeded at engineering convivial relationship between the contending political groups and communities in the state.

“Therefore, how can any discerning person come to the conclusion that the unifying efforts of the governor will divide the party?”

The Commissioner, therefore, advised the author and his likes not to be unnecessarily over-excited about the ongoing usual political frenzy associated with party nomination.

He said that Diri would not only continue to work for peace, unity and well-being of Bayelsa but also ensure that party politics was done in the best democratic tradition without imposition of candidates.

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