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Price of public service: Sen Seriake Dickson in the eye of the storm

Anthony Iwuoma
It is no more news that ex-Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, was recently invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and interrogated over certain financial transactions during his tenure in office.
Dickson, who now represents Bayelsa West in the Senate, had since honoured the invitation and left to return home on self-recognition.

This is quite unusual, as the petitioners, a non-governmental organization, had expected the detention of the man popularly called the countryman governor in those days in office.
For those in the know, his release is not surprising because there is no merit in the petition except that it was contrived and meant to smear Dickson’s name.

Initially, Dickson explained in a statement after meeting with the EFCC, the issue had to do with his family assets, which were acquired through loans in 2007.

“I understand that the subject matter of the inquiry relates to investments of my family trust, which I incorporated while being a member of the House of Reps to hold my family assets and investments, which were made between 1996 and 2012 before I became Governor.

“I understand that there is a petition from an NGO alleging that these investments (largely buildings, plots, farms, etc., in my village, Orua, Yenagoa, and two buy-to-let houses in the UK) were not declared,” he said.

However, according to him: “For the avoidance of doubts, let me state that my family investments, Seriake Dickson Trust Incorporated were made between 1996 and 2012 before I became Governor. “These investments were funded by loans and advances and repaid from salaries, allowances, savings and others. One of them is still on the mortgage and I have made these documents available to the EFCC.

 

“These investments were declared in my assets declaration form at the House of Reps in 2011; my Governorship form in 2012, 2016, 2020 after I left office and the Senate Assets declaration form this year. “I went beyond these declarations and wrote several letters to the appropriate agencies, copies of which have been made available to the EFCC.

 

My trust and I subscribed to the federal government Voluntary Assets Income AND Declaration Scheme (VAIDES) and also paid the necessary taxes.

“As a result of blackmail from some quarters, the Trust and I went to the Federal High Court where there is a subsisting judgement, declaring that no Nigerian law is breached by a public officer who takes loans and other verifiable avenues to make investments for his family provided these are declared,” the former governor stated.

Dickson averred that he had since resigned from the Trust Administration in 2011 before becoming governor.

However, the allegation took a different twist when Dickson got to the EFCC, as the investigating team came up with a new allegation of diversion of flood funds in 2012, totalling N17.5 billion.

 

“The petition further alleged that the money was used for my re-election in 2019. The fact is that there was no such donation about the 2012 flood in Bayelsa. “Curiously,” he noted, “there was no mention of the donor or where the money came from. There was also no re-election for governorship in Bayelsa in 2019, which are clear proofs that the petition was totally frivolous.”

 

Seeing that there is no substance in the allegation, EFCC allowed Dickson to return home.
The former governor is in the eye of the storm, paying the price for public service. Because of the preponderance of corruption, Nigerians do not believe that not all public servants, especially politicians are corrupt.
In the case of Dickson, his sterling performance as governor is obvious to all. While other governors were busy meddling with local government funds, he allowed the local government chairmen to run their affairs without ever taking a kobo from their funds.

 

This statesmanlike disposition earned him the respect of not only the local government helmsmen but also all Bayelsans.
It was, therefore, not surprising when the local government chairmen decided to pay him a solidarity visit over his EFCC invitation.

 

Speaking to the LG chairmen from Bayelsa State Dickson reiterated that he had declared the assets in question, which he acquired before he became governor to the Code of Conduct Bureau for the fifth time. He said that the indisputable evidence of the declaration of the assets is before the CCB and the investigating body, the EFCC.

The senator further stressed that he had nothing to hide from his eight-year rule in Bayelsa, which was marked by unprecedented development in the state.

Senator Dickson, who also spoke on the alleged diversion of N17.5 billion flood funds, said that no such donation was received in Bayelsa during the 2012 flood.

He recalled that the state government set up the Flood Management Committee under the deputy governor, which received logistic support from the government at the time.

 

However, he expressed shock at the allegation, saying further that the government set up the post-Flood Committee headed by distinguished and trusted men of integrity, a former National Security Adviser, the late Gen. Owoye Azazi, and Hon Iniruo Will, as chairman and secretary respectively.

According to him, the only cash donation, which was received in the state, was N500 million from the Chairman of Globacom, Chief Mike Adenuga, adding that the call of the state government for donations because of the devastating effect of the flood was ignored, even by the Federal Government though some public-spirited individuals donated relief materials.

He told the LG chairmen:

 

“I assure our people that we have nothing to hide. The allegation about flood donation was frivolous, as there was no such thing. The state government under my leadership had to support the flood committee headed by Gen. Azazi with N1 billion and another N250 million. “It is also untrue that I did not declare the assets in question to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

 

As a matter of fact, I have declared them for the 5th time.”

Leader of the delegation, and Chairman of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Mr Nigeria Kia, said it would be unacceptable to the grassroots for anybody to take deliberate action to bring down the senator, who they described as one of the most vocal voices in the Niger Delta.

The council chairmen called on the Federal Government to ensure fairness in the ongoing probe of the allegations made against Dickson by the non-governmental organisation.

“If we, the grassroots politicians, who have enjoyed the support of our father heard this and we don’t avail ourselves the opportunity to visit him, it will not be well with us. That is why we are here to support him and pray that all will be well with him by God’s special grace.

“And also to let the government and the authorities know that our father today is one of the voices (if not the loudest) in the Niger Delta and this idea of bringing down the voice of the Niger Delta is unacceptable to the grassroots politicians,” Kia said.

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