Dickson tasks Sylva on peaceful rerun poll

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has appealed to former governor, Timipre Sylva, to ensure peaceful rerun election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

Dickson, who addressed a world press conference in Yenagoa Monday called on Sylva to “join me to build a safer and better Bayelsa State”, describing him as a brother though having political differences.

Voters in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and 101 polling units across the state where the December 5 governorship election was cancelled will go to the poll again on Saturday, January 9, for the rerun election.

Dickson denounced what he termed the destruction of institutions by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, who he alleged has influenced the transfer of three commissioners of police and two state directors of the Department of State Security (DSS).

He equally condemned what he described as a campaign of calumny against the Independent National Electoral CommisAdeleyesion (INEC) over the outcome of the governorship election.

The governor wondered why a state police commissioner would be transferred in the middle of an election and put all stakeholder institutions on notice over alleged plans by the APC to cause further violence on Saturday.

But Dickson stressed that he was assured of victory due to his mobilisation of the people to resist any attempts to deny them their franchise and not allow their communities to be used as centres to doctor the results.

According to him, he has been meeting with chiefs and youth presidents of all communities in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area who have stated their determination to defend their votes.

Dickson who sees himself as a proponent of political tolerance said he has abhorred political violence all his life and that his only tool in confronting his opposition is that of verbal political warfare.

He, however, assured the people that he has held fruitful discussions with President Muhammadu Buhari who promised to address the issues of election violence and that security personnel who would act otherwise would face the music.