Ex-Bayelsa lawmaker lauds Lokpobiri

A former member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Wilson Dauyegha, has lauded the role the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, played in his political career.

Dauyegh, who represented Ekeremor Constituency II in the Sixth Assembly, said he remained grateful to Lokpobiri for the pivotal role he played in his election.

In a statement made available to South-South PUNCH on Monday, the former lawmaker disclosed that the petroleum minister made huge financial contribution to his election victory.

“I cannot forget the pivotal role Senator Lokpobiri played in my political voyage into the Bayelsa State 6th House of Assembly. It cannot be over emphasised.

Dauyegha also used the occasion to respond to what he described as misleading narratives that he betrayed Lokpobiri in the 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa State.

He explained that as a result of that he was loyal and took actions that were beneficial to Lokpobiri’s political interest prior to the All Progressives Congress primary elections in 2019 that produced Chief David Lyon as the party’s flag bearer.

According to him, he sided with the minister’s preference for indirect primaries as against the party’s choice of direct primaries.

Dauyegha lamented that the enemies he made in his staunch support for Lokpobiri were now the political friends of the minister.

“If Lokpobiri cannot term himself a betrayer when he defected from Chief NdutimiAlaibe, who helped him to secure his Senate seat in 2007 and moved to Chief Timipre Sylva’s camp who secured his first ministerial appointment as Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development in 2011, and now he has moved to the Wike political camp in 2023! Does this move make Senator Lokpobiri a betrayer too? If no, then, my political shifts and convictions shouldn’t be termed betrayal as well.”