Leaders and elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have accused the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of promoting greed and marginalisation in Bayelsa West Senatorial District under the guise of zoning.
The leaders, who met at Sagbama Town at the weekend, said the PDP apologists promoting the idea of zoning ahead of the bye-election in the senatorial district were simply in a hidden mission to send Ekeremor Local Government Area into perpetual political wilderness.
The leaders in a communique they issued after their meeting insisted that there was no zoning agreement in the district, explaining that political exigencies determined who occupied the senatorial position at each period.
They argued that if zoning had existed, the candidate of the PDP for the election and immediate past Governor, Seriake Dickson, would not have obtained a senatorial form in 2007 when Sagbama, his local government, had served two consecutive terms.
The elders in the communique signed by the forum’s Chairman and former Acting Governor, Chief Nestor Binabo and Secretary, Gad Ombah, recalled that the attempt by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri to return to the Senate for a third term rubbished all arguments on zoning.
The APC elders said it was disheartening that persons preaching zoning ahead of the bye-election sealed their lips when Dickson, with total disregard to the principles of equity and fairness took the deputy governorship position to Sagbama after serving eight years as a governor.
They maintained that allowing such a lame zoning argument to sail through amounted to deliberately promoting Dickson’s selfish agenda, setting bad precedent and showing seeds of discord at the senatorial district.
They said: “We believe that the unwholesome zoning being advocated by some PDP leaders is an offshoot of avarice, greed, voraciousness and deep-seated hatred against the people of Ekeremor LGA. PDP deliberately zoned all the elective offices meant for the two LGAs such as the offices of the governor, deputy governor and senate to Sagbama, the Local Government Area of former Governor, Seriake Dickson.
“This has further been exacerbated by the level of insensitivity displayed by some self-seeking politicians, who flagrantly abused the golden principles of fairness, equity and justice as they failed to consider that the people of Sagbama LGA had served in the Senate for 14 years against the eight years of Ekeremor LGA.
“As members of the Bayelsa West APC Leadership Forum, we have engaged in widespread consultations and robust discussions with major stakeholders and the good people of the area and we want to assuage the ill-feeling of the people of Ekeremor LGA by providing an acceptable balance that encourages fairness in order to ensure peaceful coexistence among the people of the Bayelsa West Senatorial District.”
