Bayelsa decides: Jonathan, PDP Govs, others storm Bayelsa for Dickson

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan, members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Council ( NEC), Governors elected on the platform of the party and National Assembly members and former governors are set to storm Yenagoa, for the grand finale of the PDP governorship campaigns on Saturday, November 28..

The Director of Publicity, Bayelsa Restoration Campaign Organisation (BYRCO), Hon Jonathan Obuebite who disclosed this in Yenagoa said the rally is tagged ‘Mother of All Rallies’ as supporters of the Dickson government across the Ijaw nation are expected to attend.

Obuebiteexplainedthat the mega rally is a culmination of Governor Seriake Dickson’s community to-community tours, a grassroots campaign which had taken him to the nook and crannies of the state in the last one month, spreading his message of restoration and consolida- tion of peace, security and development through his re-election.

According to him, the grand finale which would also witness the presentation of PDP flag to Dickson and his running mate by the national leadership of the party as a symbolic ritual of his aspiration as well as solidarity speeches by PDP leaders across the country.

Obuebite noted that stakeholders and supporters both at home and in the Diaspora, the 500 non- governmental organisations routing for Dickson’s re-election and people from diverse and strategic institutions will be on ground to rally support for the governor.

“Bayelsa State is the Jerusalem of all Ijaws and the mother of all rallies will showcase the unity of purpose of the Ijaw people coming together as one and affirming the collective interest and aspira- tions of the Ijaw race’, he stated.

He further said leadership and members of the Movement for the

Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) would at- tend as a pressure group to mount campaign for a free and fair election at the December 5 governorship election.

Obuebite quoted the state PDP chairman, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, as remarking that “PDP is not just a party of Bayelsa State but that PDP is an Ijaw party”, which will make the presence of all Ijaws at the event decisive for the outcome of the election.

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Bayelsa elders did not endorse Sylva- PDP

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

THE Bayelsa state Restoration Campaign Organisation (BYRCO) has lampooned the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, former governor Timipre Sylva over claims that the Bayelsa Elders Council (BEC) has endorsed his political aspirations.The BEC led by Chief Francis Doukpola had an interactive session with Sylva over the weekend and after extracting a promise from the latter that he would not bear any grudge against any Bayelsan over his past political travails espe- cially his disqualification from the Bayelsa governorship race in 2011, di- rected the Amanayanbo of Twon Brass, King Al- fred Diete Spiff and other first class traditional rulers to give him their royal blessing as a member of BEC.
BYRCO in a statement signed by its Director of Publicity, Hon Jonathan Obuebite however said it was misleading and deceitful for Sylva and the APC to claim that the El- ders endorsed him, when all what they did was to admonish him to ensure a violent free election and accept defeat in hu- mility if he loses the election.