The tussle for the ticket of governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, is very interesting.

In one corner, we have Governor Seriake Dickson, sitting pretty, especially after being endorsed by former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

And on the sidelines, we have- a man in denial and another one, spreading the gospel of fairness and level-playing field.

We’ll start with Mr. Denial, Reuben Okoya, who says Jonathan has not supported any of those vying to pick the governorship ticket of the PDP.

“I’m in the race because I’m qualified for the job. I’m not intimidated by the governor or anyone else.

“It is not correct to say the former President is supporting Dickson. He is not. He’s not supporting anybody. He hasn’t said that. Have you heard him saying that?

“Former President Jonathan is a father to all the aspirants and until a winner emerges after the primary, he has no preferred candidate. He is our father.”

Senator Paulker Emmanuel, on the other hand, is pleading for ‘fairness, equity and justice’.

“Let me reiterate that I have implicit confidence in the ability and capacity of the national leadership of our party to provide an unfettered and level playing field for all aspirants, particularly at a time like this when every attention and energy is directed at promoting internal democracy.

Suffice is to say that Bayelsa State is traditionally a PDP state. But the ability of our party to triumph shall be predicated upon how deep we uphold the tenets of internal democracy to allow the people an unmitigated access to chose their candidate.

“This therefore calls for the leadership of our party to ensure that the process leading to primaries are not skewed in favour of any one aspirant. Every effort should be made to showcase our genuine commitment to the party’s rebirth, to enthrone openness, fairness, equity and justice.”

Kolapo Olapoju