2019: PDP WILL FIELD ONLY POPULAR CANDIDATES, DICKSON TELLS PARTY FAITHFULS.

2019: PDP WILL FIELD ONLY POPULAR CANDIDATES, DICKSON TELLS PARTY FAITHFULS.

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said only popular candidates will fly the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, flag in 2019 general election.

He, therefore, called on members of PDP to work together in building a cohesive and united party, rather than engage in anti-party activities that could undermine the party’s fortunes ahead of next year’s general election.

Dickson, who made the call at a consultative meeting with stakeholders of PDP in Yenagoa, noted that such acts were capable of affecting the chances of the party adversely.

The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Francis Agbo, said if the PDP must win all elective positions from the state to the national levels, members must learn to build consensus with the party’s leadership in the state.

Describing the meeting as a family affair, the governor maintained that the party remains supreme and called on all to place the party’s interest above personal ambitions to enable them succeed in the forthcoming elections.

Dickson, who also pointed out that they needed to take great care in selecting candidates that could win elections at all levels, however, acknowledged the fact that, only God chooses leaders.

He said, “In the last two and half years, things have not been the way we have known them to be. Since May 2015, your party and your state have been in opposition, with the kind of government that you all know is at the centre. Yet, we have all managed to do what we have done in very trying circumstances and in an uncharted territory.

“There is no other governor of this state that has that experience of leading a party to a battle when you are in opposition and managing stability in the party, state and the government.”

“I thank you all for the support and the prayers of all of you that have enabled me to lead the government of our party and also thank the state PDP chairman and Executive members for the stability in the party co-ordinated by experienced party leaders that have kept our party alive.

“For the first time since inception, our party is in opposition and that means that within the party, our way of politicking has to change to reflect the fact that you are in the opposition. And we need to know that our party’s chances of success or failure depend on your actions and comments publicly about your government back home. In the end, it is not you that is bigger than a system or government, so you should proudly own the achievements of your government.

“You want to spoil your own government even more than the opposition. That kind of evil politics has to stop. What they don’t know is that, whatever they want to be and when we meet at the primary level, it is the strength of the party and government here led by me that you are going to battle with. That’s the reality.

“So it is amateurish for you to start politicking by attacking your own government and a government that everyone is celebrating. In what area have we not tried our best? You can’t solve all the problems of a people and of a state or a nation in eight years though.

“ In the last two and half years, we have been concentrating on working even when they bring issues, we brush it aside and concentrate on the work and that’s why you have these showings in all sectors. At the end of the day, people will judge us not by what other people didn’t do but what we have done. We are now getting to the stage of politicking where from the other side, they will see that there is a government and a party that is ready for them"