Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has said that even though some members of Peoples Democratic Party in the state are defecting to the All Progressives Congress, Bayelsa still remains a solid PDP state.
In an interview with Thisday, he said “This state is a solid PDP State. In the last general elections we saw that a number of these big wigs did not support the candidates of the mainstream of the party, the flag bearer of the party, we won resoundingly and these were elections that were far more keenly contested and more complicated.
“We campaigned in every constituency. Opposing campaigns were sponsored by our own party members, party stalwarts and candidates were floated from all other parties against our platform but in spite of all interferences, in spite of all the intimidation, the PDP won resoundingly and you don’t need to look too far. Politics is not magic that you just conjure victory overnight.
“No, victory comes as a result of a totality of a lot of factors. Just because we have lost to APC at the general election, some fair weather politicians are running to APC as if they can make APC win overnight. Politics is not so.
You are talking of a party with three Senators out of three Senators, you are talking of a party that has five out of five House of Representatives members, and even at the worst of times when PDP in Abuja was contending against PDP Bayelsa, with the support of faithful party members that we enjoy, we won three Senate seats, five House of Representatives seats, and won 22 bout of 24 House of Assembly seats. And one is now at the tribunal, though we still believe that even in that seat we should have been declared.
“Now, you have eight local government areas, political appointees, commissioners, special assistants, board chairmen and members, you have almost one hundred and five counselors, How do you think you will suddenly, in two, three months almost overnight overthrow that kind of party?
“And to cap it all, you have a performing governor on ground who knows elections, who is giving effective, proactive and consistent leadership to the party, because if I were not in position to give that leadership, let me tell you by now you would not have PDP in Bayelsa. This state is a solid, impregnable stronghold of the PDP. “