Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, at the weekend dismissed insinuations that he had a hand in the choice of Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpor, as the running mate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the November 16 governorship election, Douye Diri, because he wanted to be senator, adding that he was not desperate to be a member of the red chamber.
The choice of Ewhrudjakpor, his former Commissioner for Works and serving senator had generated misgivings as many opposed to him insisted that Sagbama, where the governor hails from could not produce the running mate to Diri, when the incumbent is from the same axis.
But Dickson, who spoke against the backdrop of insinuations that Ewhrudjakpor was picked as to give way to the governor’s senate bid, noted that the decision on running mate was purely Diri’s.
Fielding questions from journalists in Yenagoa, the state capital, the governor said he was not desperate to be a senator and that he had other options like taking up the teaching, writing or returning to farming, when his tenure expires in February.
“The decision is subjective, which the candidate alone makes. Very often people misconstrue it. When I was to become governor, there was a name I was meant to have picked and I didn’t get to pick the name, again, for purely subjective reasons, not objective.
“I went for Admiral John Jonah, who was not even interested, who had just retired and who wasn’t even a party man. He wasn’t even in politics. By doing so, it angered a lot of politicians from that area. Some of them went to the other side on account of that.
“These are normal rumblings and grumblings, but the point is that first, the decision is that of a candidate, not that of governor Dickson. A candidate has to consider a lot of factors, chief of which is compatibility. You don’t contest for office of deputy governor.
“When politicians have an ambition and they are not able to realise it, they start praying that the anointing should fall on them for the candidate to pick them. If it doesn’t happen, it is subjective.
“Even in our PDP presidential campaign, after Alhaji Atiku Abubakar picked former Governor Peter Obi, on his own. You saw the whole trouble, first from the Southeast. It’s one of those things,” he explained.
The governor, however, said that his role as one of the leaders of the party in Bayelsa was to continue to mediate and reconcile those aggrieved by the decision to pick Ewhrudjakpor.
“We will support and persuade people and explain to them at this time. I am not in a position to say why candidates pick who they pick, because I am not on the ballot,” he maintained.
On his alleged senatorial ambition, the governor said: “With the work I have done in this state, I have so many options. I love to go to school, teach and write. I have my farms and I like to stay in the serenity of my farms. So, for me, there’s nothing really that’s a do-or-die affair.
“I will continue to be available to support younger politicians and to work for the party, supporting a government if they need my support. Let me use this opportunity to caution because there’s too much over-sensationalism of these issues,” he said.
