TRACKING____On Friday, 14th February, honorable Henry Seriake Dickson, the executive governor of Bayelsa state, will officially bow out from the number one seat in the state to pave way for Chief David Lyon, the Governor-elect, to officially assume the office, having won the mandate on November 16, 2019. Chief Lyon was the candidate of opposition All Progressive Congress in the gubernatorial election that was held in November 2019, he defeated Senator Douye Diri, the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party. According to official results by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Chief Lyon won the election with 352,552 votes against Senator Diri, who came second with 143,172 votes.
Although Dickson was unsuccessful in securing victory for his anointed candidate, Senator Douye Diri, who stood as the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party at the November election, he will still bow out with history on his side.
Having successfully completed his 8 year tenure as Governor of Bayelsa state (which will be concluded on 14th February), Dickson has achieved a feat that neither of his predecessors was able to achieve. In fact, long as Bayelsa state is concerned, there is only one person that has successfully completed 8 years in office as the chief executive of the state since its creation in 1996 by General Sani Abacha military administration; and that person is no other than Honorable Henry Seriake Dickson, the outgoing governor, who has been in charge of the affairs of Bayelsa state since 14th February 2012.
How Dickson’s Predecessors Fared And Journey To Government House
Although Chief Diepreye Alamesiegha, the first civilian governor of the state, who assumed power at the start of the fourth republic in 1999, successfully won reelection in 2003, he could not be able to complete his second term mandate as he was impeached by the state legislators in December 2005 after he was found guilty of allegation of graft and diversion of state funds. He was succeeded by Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy.
Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded Chief Alamesiegha in December 2005, could only manage to hold the office for just 17 months. Although he aspired to continue in the office in 2007 and even won the PDP’s ticket, Jonathan was unable to stand for the 2007 Bayelsa state gubernatorial election because his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, elevated him to be the running mate to its 2007 presidential candidate, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua, and nominated Chief Timpre Sylva in his stead.
Chief Timpre Sylva, who stood as PDP candidate at the 2007 gubernatorial election, won the contest and assumed office officially on 27th May 2007. He failed to get the party’s nomination to run for a second term in 2012 as he was disqualified from participating at the 2012 governorship contest by his own party, PDP. The party fielded Honorable Seriake Dickson in his stead.
Journey To Government House…
Before he became Governor of Bayelsa state, Honorable Seriake Dickson was the state Chairman of the opposition Alliance for Democracy when Chief Alamesiegha was governor. When Chief Alamesiegha was impeached, Dickson defected to the PDP and was appointed commissioner for justice by Dr Goodluck Jonathan. In 2007, he stood as a candidate of PDP for Sagbama/Ekeremor federal constituency, and was elected into the Federal House of Representative to represent the district. He won re-election into the Federal House of Representative in 2011 for a second term.
After he was nominated by PDP as the party’s candidate for February 2012 governorship election, Dickson defeated other aspirants by a landslide, and was officially sworn in on 14th February 2012. He won a re-elction in December 2015, and got a renewed mandate on 14th February 2016. He will conclude the mandate 14th February 2020 to allow Chief David Lyon, a member of the All Progressive Congress and the winner of the 16th November 2019 gubernatorial election, to takeover the reins of power.
As Dickson bows out from office, only time will unveil whether this feat will be broken by the incoming governor or by another future leader.
