Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson,
•ACN: Governorship poll a charade
From Segun James in Yenagoa
Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson, alongside his running-mate, Real Admiral Gboribia John Jonah, who were sworn-in as governor and deputy respectively, yesterday declared a four-point agenda, which would focus on infrastructure development, proactive reforms in the education sector, security and intolerance to violence among others.
But the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) described the February 11 governorship election in state as a choreographed charade, while also slamming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for being part of the sham.
Speaking at a ceremony held at the Isaac Boro Square of the Yenagoa Peace Park, Dickson also declared a zero tolerance to corruption, stressing that: “I am aware we will face resistance and I will be misunderstood, we will always do what is right in your best interest.”
The governor, who took the oath of office at about 3 p.m. in the presence of the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Kate Abiri, said he was resuming immediately to tackle the many developmental challenges confronting the state, especially infrastructural and human capital development.
According to him, “The days of greed at the expense of our people are over. I will work hard to block all leakages and sources of corruption which have been the bane of our development will rather use our common wealth to fund the construction of roads and free education. Use it to promote tourism and generate wealth.”
“We shall use such wealth to generate employment for our teeming youths and to expand our economy. Be prepared my people of Bayelsa State for a fundamental paradigm shift in the system of governance and lifestyle of all of us, particularly public officials in the state with the beginning from me.
Meanwhile, the ACN in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, criticised the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan for acting out a prepared script that has done more to thwart democracy than further it.
It wondered why INEC would not have just raised up the hand of Dickson as the affirmed winner, instead of wasting huge public resources to conduct what has now turned out to be a blight on the country’s democratic process and a travesty of fairness and justice.
“First, as always, the PDP- the largest conglomeration of strangest bedfellows in the world, masquerading as a political party-thwarted its own constitution in shamelessly dancing to the discordant and deceptive tunes of a vengeance-seeking President.
“Then, the President of the largest black nation on earth failed to rise above personal anger and base considerations, even when bombarded with entreaties by many, including his predecessors in office, to allow the democratic process to take its course instead of decreeing who will and who will not be governor.
“Finally, an agency funded from the public treasury and mandated to rise above partisanship lent itself to be used in the show of shame, in which one candidate won over 400,000 votes and the closest rival barely managed to cobble 20,000 votes together. Never in the history of elections in these climes, even with our warped standards, have we seen such a farce,” ACN said.