{"id":19865,"date":"2019-08-06T08:31:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T08:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=19865"},"modified":"2019-08-06T08:31:58","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T08:31:58","slug":"bayelsa-spends-n500m-on-1500-political-appointees-monthly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=19865","title":{"rendered":"Bayelsa spends N500m on 1,500 political appointees monthly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <strong>Nathan Nwakamma<\/strong> (<strong>NAN<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has said his administration spends N500 million monthly to service political office holders numbering 1,500.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dickson revealed this during a radio broadcast&nbsp;on Sunday nightmonitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration had invested the \u2018political capital\u2019 amounting to N6 bn annually to sustain its loyalists appointed to serve in his administration.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said that the huge investment was responsible for the large number of aspirants jostling for the PDP ticket in the party primaries scheduled for&nbsp;Sept 2, ahead the&nbsp;Nov.&nbsp; 16&nbsp;governorship elections in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Dickson, 21 governorship aspirants collected and returned the party\u2019s expression of interest and nomination forms at N21 million each.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He described the development as a welcome one for the party.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe party leadership decided to make the contest open and all embracing and as a consensus builder I believe that every aspiration is legitimate, it is a right that they have to test their popularity at the primaries.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe large number of aspirants is an indication that the party is a platform of choice for any politician to actualize his governorship ambition and looking at the rival party, they don\u2019t have up to two aspirants.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNothing is happening there, the PDP is taking the shine and it is all happening because of the political capital we invested in building the party, if I lost my re-election in 2015, the party would have been dead by now in Bayelsa.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe party that I lead in Bayelsa defeated the APC when it was still very popular with all the federal might and this time I will be leading the party but not as a candidate but as an outgoing governor.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlthough I won\u2019t participate as a candidate, I am a stakeholder in the race, the biggest stakeholder, and consultations are ongoing amongst the stakeholders towards the emergence of the PDP flag bearer in the governorship elections,\u201d Dickson said.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the nomination of Chief Timipre Sylva as Minister, Dickson said that he was elated at the development and extended a hand of friendship by congratulating Sylva.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dickson said that the rift between them which had lasted for about ten years had ended and wished that the bond of friendship which existed be rekindled.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe used to be very close friends but we chose different paths in politics, the former Governor has worked hard for his party and adjudged loyal and nominated as a Minister, I love loyalty and rejoice with him.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSoon I shall join the league of ex-governors, so out of political maturity I congratulated him and shortly afterwards he reacted positively and it was very gracious of him.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI wish him well and hope that he will be a substantive Minister in a Grade A ministry, of course the choice lies at the discretion of the President, we don\u2019t have the choice in assignment of portfolios,\u201d Dickson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nathan Nwakamma (NAN) Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has said his administration spends N500 million monthly to service political office holders numbering 1,500. Dickson revealed this during a radio broadcast&nbsp;on Sunday nightmonitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa. He said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration had invested the \u2018political [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}