Stories by Samuel Oyadongha
The candidate of Accord Party in Bayelsa State, Mr. Ebizimo Diriyai in this interview, bared his mind on the Saturday’s governorship election, his vision for the state and expectation from INEC and the security agencies. Excerpts:
What are the chances of your party at the forthcoming governorship election in the state?
As the candidate of the Accord Party, I stand a better chance of becoming the next governor of the state. I am not a third force. I am in the mainstream and that is why I will not relent in my consultations and door-to-door campaigns so that when Bayelsans go to poll on November 16, I will be their only choice.
Vision for Bayelsa
I have a mission and vision to transform Bayelsa. Most times, some politicians just do wonderful write ups and just read it out. It is beyond that, I have it already in me, so I will birth them when I come on board. Bayelsans need total transformation and we will do that in every area. Talk of insecurity in the state, the issue is bordered on a lot of factors like unemployment, lack of power and poverty among others. I don’t always want to accept that Bayelsa is as bad as it’s been painted. I have travelled around and have seen incidences worst than what we have in Bayelsa. What we have are pockets of crime that can be handled. We will deploy technology to curb them all but in starting we must create employment for the people “there’s this popular saying that an idle mind, is the devils workshop. Our people must be employed, either self employment, or through private or public organization. We have to create an enabling environment to ensure companies come to the state.
The Bayelsa palm will be repositioned; Bayelsa is the only state that has an oil well which is a very lucrative and viable oil well that can generate so much revenue, which means that with such monies we can fast track industries to employ more youths. We also have tourism potential that will engage more youths. Bayelsa is so rich that we don’t have to complain that we don’t have money, and our youths remain unemployed. When we come on stream, we will ensure jobs look for our youth rather than them looking for youths. When we have all this happening it will eliminate crimes completely.
The election is just few days from now, are you hopeful that INEC will conduct a free, fair and credible election in the state?
INEC is an unbiased umpire. I don’t think they’ll want to give the commission a bad name. If INEC has no plan on conducting a free and fair election, they would have told us from the beginning that they are supporting a particular party and there was no plan for a credible election. I believe that I am going to win, and that is why I am in the race, if I don’t I won’t have bothered myself, and I will follow it to the end and I will win.