Dickson’s Rising Profile

The seemingly intractable crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party‎ provides a perfect opportunity for the Bayelsa State governor to demonstrate rare leadership which even his close associates did not know he possessed, reports Segun James

Bayelsa state governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson has not only assumed the position of a leader in the fractured Peoples Democratic Party, but his rising leadership abilities has put him on a pedestal for higher position: thanks for the maturity with which he handled the delicate job of being the chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee.

One of the controversial recommendations of the committee was the recognition given to Senator Ali Modu Sharrif as the authentic national chairman of the party. Dickson surely knew the implication of that decision. Courageously, and seeking the best for his party, he stood by it.

However, not many were surprised that Sherrif accepted the

other recommendation of the committee: that he should not contest in the convention coming up in June. Given the wide support the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee enjoyed among party loyalists, Sharrif would not stand a chance. Nevertheless, that he accepted that recommendation was a show of true sportsmanship and deserved to be commended. Perhaps, Dickson would be surprised that Sherrif accepted that recommendations. Going by the above two recommendations with each going against the contending parties, Dickson knew he had produced a report that risked being rejected by the parties.

The relationship between Makarfi and Dickson, until recently had been most cordial and brotherly. The two belonged to the same caucus within the party, hence the bitterness and disappointment by Makarfi that he has been asked to move aside for his rival by his own man!

When he was first appointed as the chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee by the then national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur under the presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, his committee was scoffed at as dead on arrival. This was because he was not only Jonathan’s kinsman, but his brother from the same Ijaw extraction! The impression then was that, what reconciliation was expected of him in the circumstance? It was like appointing your wife to be an arbiter in a quarrel between you and your neighbour.

But Dickson is a dogged fighter who took the job anyway and went about trying to mend fences in the then ruling party. It is to his credit that he was never at anytime accused of partisanship or taking sides with anyone in the crisis.

It was based on this that he was again appointed to head the committee when the party was once again descended into another crisis, this time, one that threatens to consume the party. People believed that he would fail because he had little to bring to the table except his credibility as an unbiased arbiter; and that is what he worked with. Now it has paved the way for the peace that is now pervading the party today.

What Dickson has achieved is a classical experimentation in political engineering when he deliberately handed over victory to the enemy in order for peace to return to the party.

To a watcher of political trend in the country, Alhaji Kunle Akangbe, Dickson’s deft move is like the classical case of “Dinner with the Devil.” The idea, not surprisingly, has been bought and accepted by the party’s leadership.

This unconventional way of bringing about peace has now endeared him to a lot of people.

There is an adage in politics that: “it’s better to be lucky than good.” And if ever there was a politician with luck on his side, it is Henry Seriake Dickson, who as the chairman of the reconciliation committee of the PDP has metamorphosed from a governor of the nation’s smallest state to a national hero.

Dickson was born on the 28th of January 1966 in Toru-Orua Town of Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. He enrolled in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, to study Law in 1988; he earned his LL.B in 1992. In 1993, he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar shortly thereafter.

He was elected to the National Assembly’s House of Representatives in 2007. In April 2011, he was elected for a second term; this election was the first time that someone in his constituency had done this.

Dickson assumed his role as Governor of Bayelsa State on 14 February 2012. The Independent National Electoral Commission reported that Dickson won over 90 per cent of the votes. This helped to consolidate his party’s position in the state. With Jonathan in power, no one was surprised by the results of the governorship election in the state.

Shortly after taking over gubernatorial duties, Dickson said that he was “painfully transiting to the executive arm of government.” He went on to say that he might, in fact, return to the National Assembly someday.

Since the submission of his committee’s landmark report, Dickson has not only assumed the position of a national leader in the fractured party, but may also end up becoming one of those that will determine the future of the party in the nation’s polity.

Following the resolved of the party’s leadership to reconcile, the PDP is now looking on the brighter side. There is a growing optimism that the party may well survive to contest the next general elections.

Even the contenders for the party’s leadership at the botched convention last year are already raving up their political machine with one ready to ‘make the PDP great again’. However, despite the accolades that have been showered on him, Dickson has been unrelenting in selling the essence of the recommendations of his committee to notable party leaders.

Already, former President Goodluck Jonathan, had expressed support for the Dickson-led Peace and Reconciliation Committee, insisting that political solution remained the best option to tackle the crisis.

The ex-Nigerian leader who received the governor and members of his committee in his country home at Otuoke, urged the contending parties to embrace compromise and negotiations as a way out of the current challenge.

He specially commended the governor for going round the country to meet with key stakeholders and leaders of the party in order to return peace to the PDP. Jonathan expressed reservation over the use of courts to settle purely political matters, stressing that a political solution would ensure a win-win outcome for the warring groups within the party.

Dickson also held high level discussions with one of the founding fathers of the party, Mallam Adamu Ciroma. During the meeting, he told the elder statesman that the visit was to intimate him on the efforts of the committee to ensure a peaceful resolution of the ongoing crisis in the party.

The governor also thanked the elder statesman for his sacrifice and service to the fatherland and to the party all through the years.

In his response, Ciroma thanked the governor for the efforts and sacrifices he had made to ensure that peace returns to the party. He noted that discord and disagreements were normal occurrences in political parties worldwide, adding that the resolution of the issues should matter to the party for now.

Following the shuttling, Dickson eventually brought the major contending groups in the party together. They agreed to sheathe their swords in the interest of peace in the PDP, he told them that it was time to put their differences aside and work to take back power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)

In a communiqué signed by both the Senator Modu Sheriff faction and the Ahmed Makarfi Caretaker Committee, both groups agreed to halt the current practice of making public statements capable of further inflaming the crisis.

The release was jointly signed Mr. Bernard Mikko, the factional PDP Acting National Publicity Secretary for Sheriff’s group, his counterpart in the Makarfi faction, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, factional acting national legal adviser of the PDP, Mr. Dave Iorhemba and Mr. Ahmed Gulak, former political adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

During the event which was witnessed by Dickson and former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, the groups also resolved to work with the National Reconciliation Committee to put an end to the prolonged crisis.

As the PDP moves into a new phase in its political history, all eyes are on the next convention schedule for June 30th, 2017. It is at this event that the fate of the party will be sealed and the rising profile of Henry Seriake Dickson will be determined.

Quote