Bayelsa State governor-elect, Mr David Lyon, and the outgoing Governor Seriake Dickson, have exchanged letters on the transition process for the handover of government on February 14, 2020.
Lyon, who wrote first to Dickson, informed him he had constituted a 59-member transition committee of the state’s All Progressives Congress, chaired by a former acting governor, Werinipre Seibarugu, with a former Head of Service, Obegha Oworibo, as secretary.
In the letter, dated December 5, 2019, Lyon explained that the committee was inaugurated “for the purpose of ensuring a smooth and hitch-free transition and handover.”
Lyon inaugurated the APC transition committee on November 27, 2019 at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa while Dickson inaugurated the outgoing government’s committee on November 19, 2019.
It was learnt the Seibarugu-led transition committee had also written another letter dated December 16, 2019 to the outgoing administration.
The committee’s secretary, Obegha Oworibo, declined comment when contacted by our correspondent but party sources claimed that the second letter requested the outgoing government to “provide some financial documents.”
The governor-elect stated in his letter sighted by our correspondent, “The terms of reference of the committee, among others, is to essentially interface and collaborate with members of the committee you have constituted for the purpose of ensuring that all handover activities and obligations are properly and effectively discharged. “
In his response, Dickson assured the incoming government that his administration was “working assiduously with all ministries, departments and agencies to ensure a comprehensive documentation of the legacies, assets and liabilities, amongst others, of the Restoration Government in the last eight years.”
The governor replied through a letter dated December 18, 2019 by the Secretary to the State Government and Chairman of the state government’s 41-member transition committee, Mr Kemela Okara, making reference to the two letters from the APC.
