Seriake Dickson: “PDP Left Us” — Former Bayelsa Governor Laments Collapse of Party Structure
Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has said it would be misleading to suggest that he and others are abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party, maintaining instead that the party they once identified with has effectively abandoned them.
Dickson made this known during an appearance on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, which PulseNets monitored.
He expressed strong dissatisfaction over what he described as the steady collapse of a political platform that once held dominance across Nigeria’s political landscape, stressing that the PDP Nigerians entrusted with leadership over the years has fundamentally changed.
“Where we are now, it is not fair to say that I and others who are leaving now have left the PDP. It will be more appropriate to say that the PDP left me. PDP left us,” Dickson said.
The former governor lamented that the party he became part of in the early 2000s has steadily drifted away from its founding principles and organisational strength.
“It is very sad that before our very eyes our trusted and loved platform evaporated. That is different from leaving,” he stated.
He further reflected on his political trajectory within the PDP, noting that he joined after exiting the Alliance for Democracy, eventually rising to play a significant role in its leadership structure.
“The PDP as I knew it, the PDP Nigerians have known since its formation, the PDP that I came to be part of after leaving the Alliance for Democracy as its National Legal Adviser… that PDP has since been killed and buried,” he said.
Dickson added that the present state of the party bears little resemblance to the institution that once commanded nationwide trust and electoral success.
“Whatever is left of the PDP after all the shenanigans clearly cannot be the PDP that I saw, cannot be the PDP Nigerians entrusted with power,” he added.
He also recalled the party’s era of electoral dominance, pointing out its record of producing three consecutive presidents.
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“Three presidents were elected back to back, President Obasanjo who laid the foundation of democracy for eight years, President Yar’Adua who was massively elected before he died along the way, and President Jonathan who completed that tenure and in 2011 won election on his own merit.
That was the PDP that was attractive,” he said.
