General Elections: Dickson Raises Concern Over Threat To Security

Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has raised concerns that some persons are playing politics with the security of the country ahead of the February general elections.

He also said that while there are hopes that the exercise will be free and fair, there are concerns that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), would not be impartial.

The governor made this known in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Daniel Alabrah, on Monday.

He said: “On the elections, we have expectations and we also have concerns. Expectation that there should be fair play and fair exercise of public power and authority and that the agencies and institutions of state are able to do their job. That the people are not intimidated and harassed during the elections.

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“Let me, however, alert that the signs are not too good. There are people playing politics with security – what I call the politics of insecurity and the insecurity of politics. It is unfortunate that sometimes people don’t have the courage to do what is right. We have political leaders who don’t give the right directives.

“We are concerned about the state of law, order and security during the elections. There is also the general concern about the impartiality of the electoral umpires and their agents.”

Meanwhile, the governor urged people of the state to re-elect him in the coming elections.

He promised that his administration would continue to maintain peace in the state as well as all-round development.

“We will continue to invest in the stability and security of our state. I assure Bayelsans that we will not stop working until the last minutes of our tenure. There is still a lot of work ahead.

“We have built roads, hospitals, bridges, our children are on scholarship and no fewer than 120,000 Bayelsans have been captured under our health insurance scheme. No state in Nigeria has such a robust scheme. Indeed, there is a revolution going on in Bayelsa,” he said.