Governor Dickson, Alaibe bicker over leaked tapes

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson and former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, are currently at loggerheads over a leaked audiotape.

The governor has called on well-meaning Nigerians to disregard what he called the sinister blackmail orchestrated by the former NDDC boss.

Dickson accused Alaibe of circulating a doctored version of addresses he delivered during political meetings and other fora to score cheap political points.

But Alaibe Campaign Organisation (ACO) has denied any knowledge of such tape, saying that neither their principal nor any member of his campaign organisation was at the meetings.

The administrative secretary of ACO, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, said, “If any of us has access to the recorded discussion mentioned in the public statement, such access can only be traced to the originators of the statement.”

He was countering the governor’s media aide, Fidelis Soriwei, who said that Alaibe was resorting to blackmail out of desperation to win the gubernatorial primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at all costs.

But Brisibe said his organisation’s focus was on an issue-based campaign that will lead to the development of Bayelsa.

However, Dickson noted that Alaibe was at liberty to play the same game he had been playing against all the governors of the state.

He enjoined the governorship hopeful to focus on the Bayelsa people, especially the delegates empowered by law to decide who should be the party’s candidate.

The governor maintained that while he remained a major stakeholder in the gubernatorial contest, as the leader of the party, he reserved the right to decide whom to support and vote for.

Soriwei said, “It has come to the attention of the government that the former Managing Director of NDDC, Chief Timi Alaibe, has been spreading manipulated audio recordings of Governor Dickson’s public utterance during meetings.

“It is curious that Alaibe would rather dissipate energy on propagating mischief rather than focus on his gubernatorial campaign.

”We wish to reiterate, for the umpteenth time, that the governor, as a major stakeholder in the issue of the governorship primaries, is entitled to his own political views and decisions. That does not preclude any politician with genuine interest from testing his popularity with the delegates.”