Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has called on the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party to pay more attention to regaining power from the ruling All Progressives Congress in the coming elections in 2019.
Dickson, in a statement through his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the leadership of the PDP had a responsibility to come up with a candidate from the northern part of the country that can oust the current government.
Dickson, a former Chairman of the party’s National Reconciliation Committee, said it was important that the convention was viewed as a means to an end.
The statement quoted Dickson as making the assertion while playing host to the Chairman of DAAR Communications, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, a contestant for the position of the PDP’s national chairman, at the Government House, Yenagoa.
Dickson said, “And let me use this opportunity to caution our party leaders across this country. I hope we are not focusing too much on this convention instead of focusing on winning federal power.
“I think we should be strategic and focused and think of how to get an acceptable candidate through a fair process too, for all the zones; in a process that is open to all the three zones of the North so that we can get somebody who would have the support to win the Presidency for us. That is the key thing.
“So, I advise that people should not see the forthcoming national convention as an end in itself. People should see it rather as a means to an end.
“Nevertheless, the convention is important because we need to get it right; the process itself must be right and the outcome should also be acceptable so that we can now move to the next stage.”
The governor expressed concerns that some party members were still stuck in the old way of doing things in the PDP, insisting that the convention must be credible, transparent and devoid of manipulation.
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