As the Bayelsa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial primary election approaches on September 3 and with the 21 aspirants eyeing the party’s ticket for the November 16 governorship election all set, one aspirant, Dr. Nimibofa Ayawei, has said that the Governor of the State, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, reserves the right to support whoever he chooses as the party’s flag bearer.

Nimibofa, a former Chairman of the Bayelsa State Board of Internal Revenue, was speaking at an interactive session with media men in Yenegoa over the weekend. He said that the PDP primary is akin to fighting for the soul of the state and that it is beyond endorsement.

Nimibofa noted that all the 21 PDP gubernatorial aspirants are eminently qualified to govern the state but that, at the end of the day, only one aspirant would emerge as the flag bearer of the party. He stressed that it is important for the other 20 aspirants to join forces to support whoever emerges as the PDP flag bearer.

Nimibofa said that if he is given the opportunity to govern Bayelsa State, his core areas of focus would be two folds, namely, job creation for the unemployed youths and tackling of Insecurity. He said that he would also work hard to see that a road links Brass where most of the oil offshore platforms are domiciled.

Nimibofa said that unemployment and security challenges could be tackled through harnessing the potentials of the sea and that it has the capacity of taking more than 2,000 youths off the streets, thereby providing a solution to the security situation in the state.

Ayawei, as part of his philanthropic disposition is currently building a Chemistry Laboratory in the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State. He is also on record as the first Doctoral Graduate of the University. He specialised as an Analytical Chemist.

As Chairman of the Bayelsa State Board of Internal Revenue Nimibofa brought about an exponential increase in the internally generated revenue of the state from a low N300 million per month to a high of over one billion naira and attaining an annual high of N12.5b in 2017.