Jonathan falls out with Governor Dickson over automatic ticket

The cold war between Bayelsa State governor, Hon Seriake Dickson and the family of President Goodluck Jonathan appears to have deepened as the battle for tickets of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State takes a new twist.

Speaker of the state House of Assembly, who is also a close ally of the governor, Hon. Benson Konbowei has cautioned Jonathan against interfering in the choice of senatorial candidates in the state.

Hon. Konbowei’s position comes on the heels of reports that President Jonathan, as part of the deal reached with the leadership of the senate, has insisted on the return of Senator Emmanuel Paulker in 2015.

In a clear warning to President Jonathan, the Speaker said: “Mr President is from the East Senatorial District and we are talking about the Central Senatorial District. We are talking about a senator representing central senatorial district, so the president should have nothing to do with the issue. As far as the decision is concerned, it should come from us.”

The aggrieved Speaker gave this warning in an interview with LEADERSHIP.

The president/senators’ deal was to the effect that two senators per state would be given automatic tickets. Senators Paulker and Heineken Lokpobiri are touted to be favoured by the agreement in Bayelsa.

This, however, does not go down well with Governor Dickson, who is insisting on the replacement of all the three senators, the five House of Reps members as well as 22 out of the 26 member assembly.

Hon Konbowei said in the interview: “We only gave him (Senator Paulker) a second chance and when the second chance was given to him he acted the same way, so why should we give him a third chance?"