Bayelsa Airport: Oshiomhole challenges Gov Dickson to account for N100b expenses

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has challenged the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, to account for the over N100 billion he spent in the construction of the Bayelsa airport.

Oshiomhole, also challenged the governor to prove the readiness of the airport by taking a flight from anywhere to the state airport he claimed to have built, describing it as the most expensive airport in the world.

The Bayelsa governor at his party’s campaign grand finale on Wednesday, had accused the APC of playing politics with Airport license for the state, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately refused to grant him license so as not to use the facility as a campaign issue.

However, responding to the claim in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, Oshiomhole chided him for using low quality facility that even scares him from flying on it.

“I think the media should not just take statement from people’s mouth. You know the fact that Bayelsa Airport has been flooded. Is it Buhari that flooded the Airport? Because the runway is below the ground level. They ought to have carried out proper survey. So, the runway is flooded with water because it was not built properly. “The truth is, we challenge him (Dickson) to tell Nigerians whether it was Buhari who asked him to inflate the contract because there are different versions of the actual cost.

“That contract, I put it to my dear friend and brother, Dickson that it has entered Guinness book as the most expensive runway ever built anywhere in the world.

“Even the one built on the river, from the sea didn’t cost half of that. So, it is an endless project. He shouldn’t throw blame. But you the media should also interrogate when these people make all these unsubstantiated allegations.

“So, the truth is, he (Dickson) is in trouble. He cannot tell his people why he will spend close to a N100 billion for a facility such as that. Yet, he himself cannot land on it. You people should not allow merchant of half truths to get away with blue murder. Dickson must account for that money, not because of election but he owes his people.

“Look at Bayelsa state, look at the revenue it has accrued and look at Yenagoa. Look at the roads in Yenagoa. Did Buhari told him not to use the money he gave him? Truth is that, he never knew that the day of reckoning would come. And the beauty of democracy is that, four years, or sometimes eight years, for the thief, one electoral day for the electorates and that day is November 16.

“Dickson would have to suffer for his own sins against the people of Bayelsa in which he mismanaged their resources after eight years in office. So, he should keep Buhari out of it,” Oshiomohle charged.

Also speaking, Jigawa state governor, Abubakar Badaru said the APC has become an acceptable party in Bayelsa

“APC is doing wonderfully well in Bayelsa. You all witnesses to all the rallies that have been happening in the state for both parties. I believe that success is ours,” he said.

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