Reuben Okoya warns : PDP risks losing Bayelsa Guber if …..

Ahead Sept. 3, primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Reuben Okoya on Sunday warned that the risks losing the Nov 16 guber if it fails to conduct a credible primaries to select an acceptable candidate for the party.

Okoya is one of the 21 aspirants jostling for the PDP ticket in the forthcoming elections.

Okoya, who spoke at Correspondents’ Chapel Forum for Bayelsa Guber Aspirants in Yenagoa observed that relying on the assumption that Bayelsa was PDP was not longer enough to win elections as the party was now in the opposition following the loss of the 2015 elections.

He said that with the number of aspirants in the race for the ticket, any attempt to conduct  a primary election without a level playing ground for all will spell doom for the party.

According to him, the only panacea to peace is to conduct a credible, transparent and acceptable primary, that way the losers would support whoever emerges.

“We no longer have the yam and the knife, having lost power at the centre, we can no longer take things for granted, if the right candidate does not emerge from the primary slated for Tuesday, PDP may loose the general elections.

“That is why I call for a level playing ground and transparent primiries, the PDP raised the bar in the Presidential Primary it held earlier in the year in Port Harcourt and my appeal is that the leadership of our party to ensure that the feat is re-enacted.

“The delegates should think deeply and understand that the party is at crossroads and producing an unpopular candidate will spell doom for the party, even the ruling party is being very careful on who to field and PDP cannot afford to do less,” Okoya said.

He urged delegates to look carefully at the antecedents and motives of the 21 aspirants seeking the party’s nod to contest on its platform before casting their votes adding that he was not desperate for power.

“I am desperate to serve my state, and not desperate for power, I have a verifiable track record of public service in the past 10 years, the projects I designed and built as an Architect and two-time Commisioner for Special Projects dot the landscape of Bayelsa.

“With me it is not going to be an experiment because I have a history replete with success from the Niger Delta University, to the treasury building, the transparency building, the state secretariat to mention but few,” Okoya said.

He also pledged to complete the projects initiated by the Gov Seriake Dickson administration leveraging on his project management and finance skills.