For claiming that the Goodluck Jonathan Administration did nothing for the Ijaw, a Niger Delta rights association, the Movement for the Sustainability of Ijaw People, has described Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson as a stone-hearted traitor who is scheming to take the place of the former President as the foremost Ijaw leader.
Dickson seemed to have stirred the hornets’ nest by describing the administration of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as wasted years for the Ijaw nation.
Reacting to the development in a press statement issued this morning, Mr. Tonbra Ebitimi, national leader of the Movement for the Sustainability of Ijaw People described Dickson as an overtly too ambitious “lesser star” who disparages the former President, while pretending to love him.
The statement said: “We believe that only a stone-hearted traitor would move against a man who regularly comes to his rescue in times of danger.”
The group further compared Dickson to Brutus, a villain who dealt Caesar the heaviest blow from his hidden hand while pretending to be a friend.
Below is the full text of the statement:
Our attention has been drawn to a trending news story in which Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson was said to have rubbished the administration of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. While
speaking at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa on Tuesday at this year’s Adaka Boroh memorial, Dickson had described the six years that Goodluck Jonathan spent as Nigeria’s president, as wasted opportunity for the Ijaw.
Initially, we did not believe that such toxic arrow could be shot from the bow of a political godson in the direction of his highly revered mentor and fellow kinsman. But having waited for about two days for
Dickson’s clarification or rebuttal to no avail, we have no choice but conclude that the attack was a carefully orchestrated denunciation trained to achieve a desired end.
We suspect that the aim was to rubbish the achievements of the Jonathan administration, pull down its vestiges, and damage the former President’s persona as a prominent Ijaw leader, in order to pave the
way for the ascendancy of a lesser star, who is evidently too ambitious to take his place. Well, it is obvious that this experiment has failed woefully.
All that Dickson needs to do to see that he has shot himself on the leg is to go online and read the acerbic comments from angry Nigerians against him and his sanctimonious diatribe.
We will not say much here because that would amount to publicly disparaging one of our sons in defence of another.
But Dickson should realize that this was one statement he shouldn’t have made, no matter the weight of the disdain and grudge he nurses against the former President and his immediate family.
For instance, we have searched the internet for a similar attack against the former President from any other of the Niger Delta Governors, but we did not find any. We extended the search to include
past comments on the Jonathan years by all the other PDP governors and chieftain but we found nothing negative.
We even broadened the investigation by reviewing the assessment of Jonathan by the other 35 state governors, including those from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but nothing came close.
Those other governors did not descend to the gutter like Dickson did; not because of their love for the former President, but because their conscience would not let them lie against Jonathan, by describing his time in office as wasted, like Dickson did.
It is instructive that Dickson is not only Jonathan’s godson but the Governor of his state! Ordinarily, he should be the one to rise to Jonathan’s defence in all circumstances, even when others are criticizing him. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case. Like Brutus, his knife is the first to go in.
But does Dickson really have any good case against Jonathan? We don’t think so because we are all witnesses to the successes recorded by the Jonathan administration towards not only advancing the cause of the Ijaw, but also working assiduously to make life better across the country.
We are also aware of how much the former President boosted Dickson’s political career by supporting his gubernatorial ambition while still President. Even out of power Jonathan gave his all to team up with
Dickson against a very formidable opponent; an unconditional support that helped him win a second term.
We believe that only a stone-hearted traitor would move against a man who regularly comes to his rescue in times of danger.
While other Governors, and even President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers, are positively appraising the achievements of the former President, Dickson is lurking behind him pretending to be his brother, but with his invisible dagger drawn.
We will not condemn Dickson. But we won’t hesitate to let him realize that the unkindest cut, the ultimate treachery is usually not from the enemy. It is the blow thrown from the hidden hand of the one pretending to be a friend. We can only warn him that Karma rewards every man according to his deeds.
