Political appointees in the Bayelsa State government who are desirous of contesting election have two weeks to resign their appointment. That is the directive of Governor Seriake Dickson.
He gave the directive in Yenagoa, during an interactive session with political appointees on Friday.
Dickson said the directive was in line with the guidelines of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming elections.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Francis Ottah-Agbo, quoted the governor as saying that the meeting was convened as one of the proactive steps of preparing the minds of the appointees towards the elections.
All political appointees desirous of contesting the forthcoming election in the State, he said, should submit their resignation letters to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for proper acknowledgement and documentation.
The governor re-emphasized the need for prospective aspirants to pray and consult all critical stakeholders, insisting that the PDP would only yield its platform to those who have the pedigree to win elections in their various constituencies.
Dickson said the PDP would once again demonstrate its dominance in the politics of Bayelsa State by winning all the state and national assembly seats, riding on the back of the laudable achievements of his government.
“For those who want to contest; who have the ambition to contest, you are in politics because you are ambitious. It is not a bad thing that you want to contest an election, to offer yourself for service. Pray well because by faith all power comes from God. Consult well too because in this game, the tools are human and we are in the business of serving human beings.
“Consult the people that are important to the decision that you are about to make. There are so many leaders of the party including myself. Make sure you consult from bottom to top.
“For those of you who have prayed well and consulted well, because of the guidelines, you will now have to tender your resignation. It must be sent to the office of the Secretary to the State Government. Many of you do not know this, so take note.
“You know what we went through in the last governorship election in the state, that’s what you should expect from the opposition. We only went through and won because of experience and because we took measures to stop them and that’s what all our candidates should be doing.
“You have to go home regularly to meet and interact with your people, leaders and voters, those that can help you win. After this meeting, from next week we will begin the process of consulting the leadership. Nobody will sit down in Government House to choose candidates,” he said.