The All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, accused Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson of buying the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) of eligible voters from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and other councils ahead of the January 9 rerun.
The party alleged that the governor was allegedly victimising some top civil servants and politicians suspected to be against his re-election.
It said: “In his acts of desperation, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has vowed to use to deal with some top civil servants and politicians believed not to have supported him in the governorship election.”
In a statement yesterday in Yenagoa, the state capital, by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO), Chief Nathan Egba, APC said it was disturbing that Dickson was preaching good democratic norms but at the same time muscling people to support him.
It added: “The strategy of Governor Dickson is to throw around cash as a form of inducement to secure victory and, in the end, abandon the people again, like he has done for almost four years now.”
The party urged Bayelsa residents not to be carried away with the cash and others it described as “Greek gifts” from the governor at this crucial period.
APC said: “Our people should stop selling their PVCs to the governor’s agents, who are also asking for passport pictures of those whose PVCs they buy, with the promise of opening bank accounts into which monthly allowances would be paid.
“It is quite worrisome that the governor, who is exhibiting so much desperation to win the election at all cost, is venting his anger on some top civil servants and even his fellow elected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members he suspects of supporting the APC.
“We are aware that he has directed his hatchet man in the Treasury …to withhold December salaries of the affected civil servants and politicians, as a form of punishment.
“We assure the affected civil servants not to worry because the APC will restore all salaries and allowances, including severance packages of past government officials, whom Governor Dickson has refused to settle.”
But the PDP, through the Restoration Campaign Organisation (RCO), denied the allegations.
The party described them as a false and desperate propaganda.
Through RCO’s Director of Publicity, Jonathan Obuebite, the PDP said the claims by the APC were vicious propaganda by Sylva to win the election by hook or crook.
The party noted that civil servants in Bayelsa State were confident in Dickson for placing high premium on their welfare.
It said: “Governor Dickson bluntly refused to apply for bailout but rather took the hard decision to cut down on all expenditure of government just for the sake of Bayelsa workers.
“Sylva does not have that kind of discipline because Bayelsans know him as having run a profligate system, thereby plunging the state into huge debts to the tune of N432 billion that the Dickson government reduced to N90 billion, making the state one of the least indebted in the country.”
On the alleged purchase of PVCs, the PDP said it was part of the propaganda by the APC.
The party said Dickson, from the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was leading in six out of seven local government areas declared; even with all the federal might deployed by the APC to allegedly rig the election.
It said: “No amount of propaganda or federal might will save APC from the humiliation of defeat, come January 9. APC knows too well that it has lost this election and the propaganda is just a way of hiding the shame of its defeat, having boasted and made so much noise.
“Again, we join Governor Dickson to call on Sylva to honourably concede defeat and withdraw from the race. He will do well to withdraw from the race now by calling to congratulate Governor Dickson before he suffers another round of defeat and humiliation.”
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