It is increasingly turning out that Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, the man who wants to govern Bayelsa State is alas presenting credentials based on a sheer and idle criticism of sitting Governor Timipre Sylva.If critique is matched with a new and superior alternative view the society could prospect for a healthy debate needed for the growth and development of the citizens and strategic of governance and administration. But where you offer a bland and dismissive challenge in such a serious arena as a political campaign to win power through the ballot, you have lost the race before the gun blast.Many analysts believe that with his less than impressive remarks on Sylva's administration instead of a robust focus on what he has in store for the people, Dickson has shot himself in the foot. For, in seeking an advantage by attempting to pummel the governor, the lawmaker has exposed himself as truly a poor candidate for the exalted office.In politics, a poor candidate is defined as one who, bereft of the intellectual capacity to operate in the world of ideas and creativity, attempts a barren attack on the performance of those in power. He hardly erects a viable shadow platform. He throws no fresh concepts of governance into the debate. Three quarters of a one -thousand 'word presentation is a parade of criticism with the remaining one quarter a haranguing hotchpotch of politicking.And so, we have Dickson making sweeping statements that suggest he's a stranger to the new face of Bayelsa under Sylva. He speaks of 'poor and dismal performance to date' in his Bayelsa Restoration Agenda. Then he refers to what he calls a 'reckless abuse of state power without a corresponding sense of honour, responsibility and compassion', implying tragically that under him as governor, he'd balance 'reckless abuse of power' with 'a 'sense of honour, responsibility and compassion'. What frightening recipe for anarchy' Elsewhere Dickson says: 'The present governor does not quite understand the problems and potentials[sic] of the people'. And on women, he says the Bayelsa governor hasn't given them equal opportunities to key into development programmers' in the state.It's obvious the new Bayelsa has left Dickson far behind. Otherwise he'd realise governance has gone beyond the banal there. The debate is no longer about the personality of who is in power. It's about ideas and leveraging popular participation in the institutions of government. Whoever is the helmsman, in this case, Sylva, represents the collective symbol of our aspirations and dreams. We are in an ideas realm that has given birth to several positive changes in Bayelsa.For instance, in 2008, in one fell swoop, Sylva's administration appointed seven women as Local Government Chairpersons in the state. It was at a time most governments were still drawing a thick gender line across the country!Today, President Goodluck Jonathan has also appointed unprecedented number of women in the Federal cabinet! Talk of kindred spirits!Of course, it is utter mischief to say Sylva 'does not quite understand the problems and potentials (sic) of the people'. He does. Otherwise he'd not be embarking on policies that would steadily wean Bayelsa off the deadly trap of oil dependence. He is deploying agriculture, notably fish farming and rice cultivation, as weapons in his bid to topple oil as the chief earner of revenue and major means of foreign exchange. He is targeting millions of tonnes of rice and fish.His administration is planning the ultimate: the construction of an Agricultural City in Sagbama Local Government of Bayelsa! He says it's going to be the first of its kind in Nigeria to 'serve as a centre to produce agricultural commodities and run agric commerce with infrastructure to support ideas on modern farming techniques'. Being a fore-sighted politician, Sylva has looked beyond today and seen that in the not too distant future, oil would lose its allure and its fortunes would vanish. It happened in Oloibiri, which is today a metaphor for departed glory. Sylva says we can avert a bigger tragedy by taking urgent steps now to neutralise oil, with all the hardship it has caused Nigeria and her citizens, never mind the pyrrhic victory it has often given.Sylva's strategy and vision as a politician are light years ahead of what Dickson is promising. The lawmaker is 'to establish an Economic Advisory Council which will lay the foundation for a blue print (sic) to revamp the economy'' Do you lay the foundation for a blueprint or do you evolve a blueprint from which will emerge a prosperous society'Besides this comment on a contradiction in terms in Dickson's agenda, it must be pointed out that what Bayelsa and really every constituent state of Nigeria, need are committed and tested leaders. We must reject politicians who resort to dismissive criticisms when it is clear from their pedigree and body language that they won't offer better service when voted into office.Bayelsa under Sylva has posted significant achievements which must be consolidated.Finally, these two questions: Who, between the one in the saddle who has proved his mettle and the one who is groping in the dark about a blueprint, will you entrust your fate to' Will you allow a legless man to teach you how to run
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