Dickson sacks two female political appointees for divided loyalty by OSAHON JULIUS on Jan 6, 2015 Posted under: Features Things may no longer be at ease between Governor Seriake Dickson and Nigeria First lady, Patience Jonathan, as the cordial relationship which hitherto existed between both the Bayelsa state government, the first lady and the Presidency is tittering in the brink of an abyss, with the recent sack of two female appointees in the state government cabinet. The cold war which has started long before turn messier in Bayelsa, yesterday when the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson sacked the State Commissioner for Local Government, Mrs. Marie Ebikake and the Special Adviser on Federal Government Projects, Chief Remi Kuku over alleged divided loyalty. They were apparently sack for attending the wedding ceremony of the President foster daughter, which the Governor and his cabinet shun at the weekend. Mrs. Marie Ebikake and Chief Remi Kuku were members of the Governor Seriake Dickson administration that participated in the reception to welcome the First Lady to Otuoke Community ahead of last weekend wedding ceremony of the President’s foster daughter, Miss. Inebai Paul and Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi at Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of the State. Niger Delta Mirror gathered that the duo of Ebikake and Kuku allegedly shunned a blanket order asking all political appointees to shun the First Lady due to a similar rebuff extended to the Governor and his Wife, Dr. Rachel Dickson at a recent function. The State Government, in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Markson-Iworiso, did not give reason for the sack of Marie Ebikake and Remi Kuku but, However, warned the youths and women in the state of the presence of politicians out to destabilize the state. It was gathered that the venue of the traditional wedding ceremony of the foster daughter of the President was turned into a battle ground by women loyal to the Wife of the President, Patience Jonathan and the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson. Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and dignitaries in Otuoke Community for the wedding clearly showed signs of worry over the development in uncomfortable silence. It was gathered that during the Friday arrival of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to Otuoke community in a Presidential Helicopter, the women under the aegis of the Women for Change Initiative controlled by Dame Patience Jonathan engaged in loud singing of praises of their mentor and reportedly threw painful banter against the administration of Governor Dickson. But the Women of the State, mobilized in huge numbers, stormed Otuoke Community with drums and large banners, singing in favor of Governor Seriake Dickson and blocked out the Women under the women for Change Initiative. Some of the women attached to women for change initiative were nearly beaten up and engaged in fist cuff. A Senior Aide of the Governor, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said “the scene was tensed. The women hired by the women for change initiative were insulting the Governor. But the loyal women of Bayelsa put up a show affirming their support for the State Governor.” A loyalist of the President’s Wife and aide to the sacked National Vice Chairperson of the Women for Change Initiative, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said the alleged refusal of the Wife of the State Governor, Dr. Racheal Dickson and State Government Officials to accord the first lady courtesies including angered the women within and outside the state, “we were not abusive but giving support to our Mama Peace.” It would be recalled that the cold war between the duo of the First Lady, wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, and the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson blew open in October,2014 following her resignation as a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State Civil Service. Dame Patience Jonathan, who is popularly referred to as “Super” Perm Sec was appointed in July 2012, five months after the governors’s inauguration.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:33:12 +0000
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