From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

 

A socio-cultural group, Bayelsa West Congress( BWC) has commended the former Governor of Bayelsa State and Senator representing Bayelsa West, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, for working hand in hand with Governor Douye Diri and other Bayelsa leaders to retrieve the state owned Atala oil wells.

 

The group in a statement signed by Ebide Brown and Moses Hitler, chairman and secretary respectively condemned statements made against the Senator over the administration of the state’s oil wells, most especially, the false claims made by detractors that the senator has a stake in the state’s oil wells.

According to them Senator Dickson does not own an oil license and has never applied for an operating license

 

The group stated that Senator Dickson is not a businessman and has no personal interests in the Bayelsa oil fields apart from the general interest of Bayelsa State.

It disclosed that when one of the oil wells Atala OML 46 was shut down last year, it was Senator Dickson who called the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, on the telephone to complain about why an oil field belonging to Bayelsa State was cancelled and the minister told Senator Dickson that it was not just Atala but all non producing oil fields owned by other governments.

 

The group further revealed that Senator Dickson had in a statement revealed that Governor Diri had reached out to him for his counsel on the matter and he had already brought it up with the President and the Petroleum Minister which prompted Senator Dickson to accompany Governor Diri to discuss the matter with President Buhari.

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While calling on the Diri administration to speak up and clarify these issues rather than allow falsehood to thrive, it pointed out that Senator Dickson as governor upheld the interests of the Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation and has continue to do so even after leaving office.

 

“We urge Bayelsans to ignore liars and blackmailers known for spreading propaganda. Bayelsans are already used to these lies. It is yet another futile attempt by detractors and their pay masters to drag Senator Dickson into their lies and blackmail”

 

“As Governor, Senator Dickson fought to win the Oluasiri/Nembe/Soku oil well cases at the Supreme Court against the Rivers State government in 2013 led by then Gov. Rotimi Amaechi. Up until Senator Dickson left office as Governor, Bayelsa was collecting the derivation’s funds from the Oluasiri/Nembe/Soku oil well.”

 

“This administration is aware that Senator Seriake has no involvement in the Atala oil well controversy, but certain people inside its sphere of influence are happy to propagate false information about him and subject him to blackmail.

 

“It is quite disappointing that there are problems that cannot be attributed to him, as he has done everything in his reach to clarify the already existing issues to foster greater understanding with the governor” they added