Yenagoa—The Bayelsa State Chapter of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) has said the eight Local Government Councils in the state are not for sale to the highest bidder and any political party during the forthcoming council elections in the state, Leadership newspaper reports.
The party opined that the electorates are interested in those who can turn around local government administration in Bayelsa.
Hon. Brisbe Kpodoh, Chairman of APGA in Bayelsa, who stated this in a parley with newsmen averred that the era of the emergence of slippery character, party boys and use of local government administration as compensation for participating in election violence is over.
According to him, the local government administration in the state needs someone that will turn things around and assist good governance from the grassroots.
Kpodoh, who is also the state chairman of the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC), called on the people of the state to ensure that power only gets into the hands of men and women of conscience and integrity who would guide the ideals of justice come May 14th and the 2023 general elections.
He said the same past experiences have shown that many of the leaders the electorates in the state chose were the wrong representatives from the councillorship to the governorship.
His words, “The only time we saw genuine representatives was during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo where they exhibited their love for what they were elected to do by killing the inordinate pursuant of OBJ’s third term ambition.
“It was only when responsible people were given the opportunity to lead the meaning of life and society would better be appreciated. Power is intrinsically morally, corrupting those who have it and destroying the freedom of those subjected to it.”
He described the entry of the APGA into the political scene as a “deterrent” to the self-seeking and discredited “old-breed” politicians who do not have the love of Bayelsa State at heart but are pretending to be the ones with the “magic wand” to pull the state out of 20 years of internal socio-political and economic decay.
He urged the electorates to purge their conscience and lift themselves away from the “follow-Follow syndrome and stop being used as rented crowds for campaign and advised mothers to reject the temptations of receiving wrappers to form crowds for others,” but search out very credible and sincerely genuine men and women to rebuild the shattered economy of the state.
“The involvement of individuals with very high moral standards and integrity in APGA, no doubt, would definitely change the system of the prevalent ineptitude and brazen corruption,” he affirmed.
He also called on the present administration of Governor Douye Diri to put in place a feedback mechanism on the two years performance of his administration, insisting that such feedback mechanism will encourage increased participation of the people in governance.
“I wondered why the governor has not put in place a mechanism to monitor the feelings and reactions of the ordinary people he is governing.
“The suffering of the rural populace of starving men, women and children should be recognized and addressed.”
