- Ex-Gov Dickson: I ‘ll Send People To Go and Get the data and reply you…
- Akene: He Should Be Ashamed of Himself ..He Left only N56,000 For Diri
By Hamilton Nwosa (Head, The New Diplomat’s Polling, Research and data desk)
The ferocious verbal war between the immediate past Governor of Bayelsa state, Hon Seriake Dickson and his former Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Surveyor Furoebi Akene has escalated, with bitter exchanges that have reached blustery heights.
The ferocious verbal exchanges have to do with alleged rising debt portfolio the immediate past governor reportedly accumulated while in office. In a new recorded audio released by Akene, the later accused ex-Governor Dickson of accumulating choking debts profile with external debts standing at $32,064,672.74 while domestic debts allegedly incurred by Dickson’s administration stood at N100bn.
However, while responding to his former Commissioner’s allegations, Dickson accused Akene of suffering from immense bitterness, misconception, bile, pettiness, frustrations and perfidy, stressing that as a governor he did his best for Bayelsa state throughout his eight years in office. He wondered why a Commissioner who served in his government would set out to write misleading articles about his administration.
“ You mean people don’t know how to write things about you?…You think you are Holier than thou? You are the most clean, cleanest person Akene? That is what you think? If people put you in a state of authority, with your mindset, your level of perfidy, you will just destroy everybody…I will tell people who have data to reply you and educate you… You said Sylva borrowed only N50bn. That is what you are saying?…Akene, you don’t know”, Dickson queried.
Dickson flared up at his ex-Commissioner: “ I was ashamed, I was touched at your level of pettiness, misconception, bile and bitterness. You are misled.. Akene. Your mindset is negative. ..So you don’t know you have to support the State to grow?..”
But a distraught Akene wouldn’t take that. In his latest recorded audio, Akene replied his former boss again, accusing him of leaving behind only N56,000 in all accounts of Bayelsa state government as at when he left office. The former Commissioner who introduced himself as a high-profile Surveyor of international standing, and the first Surveyor of Bayelsa State origin to earn the status of a fellow in Nigeria, alleged that Dickson’s government received well over N1.7trillion in eight years but left staggering debt overhang of about N177Bn (both external and domestic debts when converted, using universal currency converter).
Akene said in the new recorded audio alleged: “ I was the only politician from Southern Ijaw that didn’t attend that rally which was organized for Dickson…that he did a road.. .He took AIT, Channels there and that made his head to swell ! Dickson should respect Alamieseigha. .. I will respect him. Dickson should respect Goodluck…. I will respect him… What Goodluck did with little allocation, Dickson cannot try small of it…Sylva came and did well too. Alamieseigha did very well. These three governors never owed salaries one day…But Dickson is a deceit and a scam. Is that the life we want to live? Please, I want to make these points very clear: Dickson has killed the State. I pity Douye Diri because Diickson brought him to destroy him…All the accounts of Bayelsa State, they left only N56,000. And they ransacked all the place.. .”
He claimed: “They stole everything. Even cars were vandalized. So Diri should speak out. Douye Diri met an empty house…Even office furniture were stolen. Diri is dying in silence… If not for Goodluck and Turner, who is Dickson? Nobody knew him… Today, he has conscripted Diri to appoint all types of people including his girlfriends, etc as Commissioners…
“I have a passion for the Development of Bayelsa State…Dickson should be ashamed of himself. For those boys he has paid to be insulting elders, it won’t help you…What has Dickson done for that tiny village of Yenagoa? Some of us have worked very hard to attain this level.. .I hate falsehood. Don’t tell lies against people.
“In the EXCO, it was only two man EXCO…Lawrence Ewujakpor and Dickson… Ignorance is a bad thing. That is why a lot of projects have failed in Bayelsa. How many hospitals did he build? Bayelsans should rise up…I cited states like Ekiti, Gombe… that were created the same time with Bayelsa state and they receive far less allocation than Bayelsa state yet they are doing far better in development. ..In Bayelsa, we have leadership that is stealing the money…We should begin to vote for people who have the intellect…”
Please listen to the latest recorded audio released by the ex-Commissioner in his raging war with his former boss, ex-Governor Dickson:
The squabble between Dickson and Akene seems premised on disagreements over policy choices the former Governor made while in Office. In the newly released audio obtained by The New Diplomat, Akene expressed this disagreement with his ex-boss. Recall that while quoting statistics from Debt Management Office (DMO) in a published article, Akene had stated that between 2012 and 2019, while Dickson was in office, the state accumulated an external debt of $32,064,672.74.
The ex-Commissioner had claimed that N100bn was added to the state’s domestic debt portfolio between January 2012 to 30th of June 2020. He alleged that during the eight years of Dickson’s administration, the debt burden rose from N50bn yo N150bn.
Recall that Governor Dickson governed Bayelsa state between February 2012 to February 2020. He handed over to incumbent Governor Duoye Diri, in 2020. However, in the leaked audio, ex-Governor Dickson, while reacting to Akene’s article was furious over the disclosures, saying, his former Commissioner was attempting to cast a slur on him and his administration which he served.
Dickson also claimed he never took any external loan as Governor, but Akene contested the claim. Akene alleged that Dickson left Bayelsa state worse than he met it with just N56,000 in the state account books which Diri inherited. Akene also insists that the said article he authored was borne out of his frustrations over the stunted development in Bayelsa state in comparison with states like Ekiti, Ebonyi, Zamfara and Gombe that were created along with Bayelsa on October 1, 1996.
In the article, Akene said: “It is not news again that Bayelsa State is the most underdeveloped State amongst its contemporaries of Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Yobe and Zamfara that were created in the same date of October 1, 1996. It is also not news that the revenue earnings of Bayelsa State from the Federal allocation and the 13% is more than three times what their contemporaries get within a corresponding period.’
Editor’s Note: The Initial headline was done in error. It indicated a misleading figure of N22. 15 tr as the debt burden of Bayelsa State when converted from US dollars to Naira. However, with the utilization of an updated Universal Currency Converter(UCC), the total indebtedness of Bayelsa including domestic and foreign, stands at an estimated N177BN. The mix-up is regretted. This does not detract from the ferocity of on-going war of words between immediate past Governor Seriake Dickson and his ex-Commissioner, Surveyor Furoebi Akene. Thank you for your understanding.
