By Steve Nwosu
Finally, the cat has been let out of the bag! It’s official! Sen. Henry Seriake Dickson has left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And with that singular move, he has completely changed the political narrative ahead of the 2027 general elections – and probably, beyond.
Yes! Dickson has left PDP, a party which even he confesses, was very dear to his heart. A party which he says has given him almost everything. A party which he has now been serially betrayed and led into the abyss by the same people who were entrusted with protecting and preserving it at its most vulnerable season. Betrayed especially by sitting governors, all of them beneficiaries of PDP’s benevolence, but who not only fenced off those who genuinely desired to rescue the party, but also stuck a dagger in its heart in its hour of need, and then jumped ship
But like Dickson said on Thursday, he did not dump PDP: ‘PDP simply left me’
However, unlike the politicians of convenience, who have lately been flocking into the ruling APC, in the diabolic claim of “connecting with the centre”, the politician of conviction that Dickson is, says there is little or nothing in his principles of fairness, equity, transparency, federalism, service to the people as well as the protection of the weak and vulnerable, that can be found in the APC and the style of governance it has unleashed on the country in the las 12 unbroken years it has held power at the centre.
Of course, Seriake Dickson needs no introduction. Anyone who has followed the goings-on in the 10th, and even the 9th, Senate would confirm that one major voice of reason, unputdownable even when, as is often the case, in the minority, is the voice of the Senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District. He would stand to be counted on just about every issue – from environment and climate change to taxation; from electoral reforms to judiciary reforms. From the evidence act to resource control, from access to affordable healthcare to tertiary education loan fund. Just about anything that puts Nigeria first, jealously guards its multi-party democracy, projects and protects its image abroad, respects its diversity and guarantees a just, equitable and safe country.
Of course, its understandable why Dickson is riled by opaqueness in transaction of government business, as he says has become second nature with the APC central government. As Governor of Bayelsa State (2012 to 2020), one of the first bills Dickson sponsored to the state house of assembly was the transparency bill.
By the provisions of that law, Dickson compelled himself as Governor, and subsequent governors after him, to give a monthly account to Bayelsans, of all the monies received by the state government, and the expenditures therefrom in an open public forum.
Failure of the governor to do so for three consecutive months constitutes an impeachable offence.
