Crisis in Bayelsa as Governor Dickson Moves Against Jonathan

By Yemi Adebowale
The relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson may have finally hit the rocks as the crisis between the duo took a twist on Wednesday with the exposure of a plot by Governor Dickson to neutralize Jonathan’s political influence after his May 29 handover to Muhammadu Buhari.
BREAKING TIMES on Wednesday gathered from an inside source in Governor Dickson’s cabinet who pleaded anonymity that Governor Seriake Dickson has perfected plans to checkmate President Jonathan starting from June 10th, 2015.
In an email document received by BREAKING TIMES, our source disclosed that “The governor told some of us his selected inner cabinet aides that he intends to sack all of Jonathan’s loyalists within his cabinet once the president steps down on May 29th. He also plans to sack all those loyal to the First Lady Patience Jonathan in a move to consolidate his chances of winning the November gubernatorial polls. He told us this in his house.”
According to the source, “Governor Dickson believes that President Jonathan, having lost power at the centre can no longer be a threat to him politically and assured all of us in the meeting that he has a very cordial relationship with General Buhari. Telling us that he had met General Buhari as far back as few weeks before the APC primaries and supported him financially and as such the General will support him. He also said he is in talks with Timipre Silva. He also told us that he and Buhari have maintained a third party communication channel till date. That he is confident Buhari will support his ambition with state institutions like the police, INEC and the military if need be.”
“The governor has also mandated us to commence a propaganda drive against the outgoing president, his family and aides who hail from Bayelsa state from May 4th telling Bayelsans to be wary of President Jonathan and his wife as they may now want to impose their stooge on the state so as to be surviving on the state resources. In this propaganda drive, the First Lady should be the main focus of attack since the outgoing President is a good man. That we should paint the outgoing First Lady, Dame as a desperate woman who will do anything for power and who has now come back to Bayelsa to force Governor Dickson out of government by putting her stooge in power. Her love for power and greed should be painted vividly before the Bayelsan people. The propaganda should be targeted at making Bayelsans hate her and invariable also hate president Jonathan. That we must continue repeating the same message over and over again for effectiveness. The Governor informed us that an independent media consultant has been hired for this already and he will work with the newly appointed Commissioner of Information Barr. Kikili Asueme and 4 others.
“The Governor has also perfected plans to remove and sideline any PDP member or stalwart within Bayelsa PDP who are believed to be loyal to President Jonthan or Dame Jonathan. The game plan here is very simple. Some loyal members within the PDP are already working with the Governor on this to start crisis. The plan is to suspend all the president’s men or get the courts to deliver judgements in our favour. This has started already as one of the strongest ally of Mrs. Dame Jonathan the Bayelsa state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Colonel Sam Inokoba (rtd), has been sacked by a Federal High Court in Abuja. The Governor has vowed to deal decisively with any one or group of persons who stands in his way for a 2nd Term.
“The Governor is convinced that the outgoing President is not going to support him and might support one of his aides or a neutral person as he said the President is always saying he has not performed well as governor. The Governor said although the outgoing President openly told everyone in the state to support him during the general election campaigns but now the dynamics have changed as he the outgoing President is no longer contesting for any office and will soon be out of office so he might want to support a younger candidate as the outgoing President has said to him on few occasions that young people should be governors while the older men advice or go to the Senate. And the Governor is so worried by the number of candidates who have shown interest in the November polls that he believes it’s the outgoing president that’s telling everyone to go and contest”, the source said.
Speaking to BREAKING TIMES on Wednesday, another source who confirmed the story noted that Governor Dickson fired a warning shot recently when he fired two of his Commissioners who are loyalists of President Jonathan.