A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan
Etete, has said he would lead the battle to stop
the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, from
meddling in the politics of Bayelsa State.
Mr. Etete, who was allegedly involved in the
million dollars shady Malabu Oil Deal scandal,
stated this at an event to mark his 70th birthday
at the weekend in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State
capital.
Mr. Etete said rather than being preoccupied
with her husband’s re-election matters, Mrs.
Jonathan was busy planning to abort the re-
election of the state governor, Seriake Dickson,
in the 2016 governorship election.
The First Lady, an indigene Rivers State, has
allegedly been strategising to stop Mr. Dickson’s
re-election. She is reportedly rooting for the
Special Assistant to the President on Domestic
Matters, Waripamowei Dudafa, as the governor’s
replacement.
However, in what appears a move to stave off
Mrs. Jonathan’s offensive, the governor recently
sacked two of her allies from his government.
Those sacked were, Marie Ebikake, former
commissioner for local government and Remi
Kuku, special adviser on Federal Government
projects.
Mr. Dickson also banned the activities of a pro-
Jonathan group, Transformation Association of
Nigeria, TAN, accusing its members, including a
former deputy governor of Bayelsa State,
Werinipre Seibarugu and Remi Kuku, of
“promoting politics of subversion and needless
division” in the state.
Some youth groups had also warned Mrs.
Jonathan, who had last October resigned as
permanent secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil
Service, not to accompany her husband to the
state for the presidential campaign rally on
February 5.
“I am using this opportunity to warn the First
Lady not to make the mistake of trying to dislodge Governor
Dickson to impose a thief and a criminal as Governor of Bayelsa
State,” Mr. Etete said at the event also attended by Mr. Dickson.
“It is a known fact that Dickson has performed beyond the
expectation of most Bayelsans, and that out of nothing but sheer
jealousy the First Lady and her cheerleaders want him out to
pave way for their selfish interests.”
The former minister in the administration of the late Sani
Abacha, said Mrs. Jonathan was merely being jealous of Mr.
Dickson’s performance as governor since 2012.
Stating that despite staying away from the state in the last 15
years, Mr. Etete said he had full grasp of the politics of the state.
He insisted that at no time did it become a norm that the First
Lady should dictate who governs the oil-rich Bayelsa State.
He lambasted Mrs. Jonathan for failing to appreciate Mr.
Dickson’s efforts to assist her husband (Mr. Jonathan) succeed as
president.
He said, “We have Governor Dickson working his heart out to
galvanize support for President Jonathan’s second term in office.
On the other hand, the First Lady is aligning with all the
opposition elements in the state to create crisis for the young
governor.
“Her aim is to return to power the same thieves and criminals
who failed the state in the past, and turn back the hands of the
clock for this great state,” Mr. Etete said, adding “we won’t allow
such to happen”.
Also speaking at the event, a former Minister of Information,
Edwin Clark, a close-ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, said
“By God’s grace, I’ll celebrate my 90th birthday here in Bayelsa in
2017, during Dickson’s second term in office”.
Mr. Dickson, who expressed gratitude to Ijaw leaders for their
support since he assumed office, said everyone who truly loved
Nigeria should support the president’s re-election bid.
Apparently referring to Mrs. Jonathan activities in Bayelsa State,
the governor said it was an irony that some people would claim to
be rooting for the president’s re-election bid and at the same time
causing confusion in his (president) home state.
“You can’t claim to be for Mr. President and yet be sabotaging his
home state,” he said.
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