Bayelsa deputy gov denies abandoning office

AUGUST 28, 2013 

Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson
| credits: transformationwatch.com

Bayelsa State Deputy Governor John Jonah has denied reports that he abandoned his office and travelled out of the state after Governor Seriake Dickson embarked on a three-week annual vacation.

Dickson officially commenced his annual leave on August 15, following its postponement from the original date of August 5, to enable the governor to “play his role as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party National Reconciliation Committee.”

The leave was also to enable him to expedite action on the committee’s job and other pressing state duties.

The state House of Assembly had earlier approved his request to go on vacation.

But no sooner had Dickson departed Yenagoa than Jonah was said to have also travelled out of the state, leaving the Secretary to the State Government, Edmund Allison-Oguru, to represent the governor at events.

But Jonah on Tuesday dismissed the reports.

The deputy governor, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Ebi Evinson, insisted that he had been performing his duties as the deputy governor and that he only travelled last week to attend the PDP South-South meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, and returned to Yenagoa on Saturday.