Dickson tackles Adamawa senator for saying Bayelsa’s small

Seriake Dickson, the immediate past governor of Bayelsa state, made a scene on the Senate floor on Tuesday when he confronted Senator Aishatu Dahiru-Binani (Adamawa Central), who described Bayelsa as one of Nigeria’s smallest states.

Binani had claimed that Mubi, Adamawa, had a total landmass of 506.4km2, a population of 759,045 people, and nine local government areas while campaigning for support for her bill to create the Federal Medical Centre.

She said, “This together with the population of Mubi North makes it 2,089,540 people (very much higher than Bayelsa State’s eight local government Areas, with a population of 1,704,515).

“However, in terms of federal presence, especially in the area of tertiary healthcare delivery, this historic town has suffered from government neglect.”

Dickson, clearly enraged by her submission, slammed her claim on Bayelsa’s population.

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Dickson claimed that Bayelsa’s physical landmass and water bodies were three times larger than those of some other Nigerian states.

Binani should have made her case without mentioning Bayelsa, he said. “It will take me four days to go around my senatorial district,” Dickson said.

It will take me three days to go around my local government, Sagbama. “I just felt compelled to speak up in order to educate the bill’s sponsor and, by extension, the rest of the country. People should be cautious when discussing population.”

Dickson was warned by Senate President Ahmad Lawan not to bring improper motives into the discussion.

“The discussion should not be about the population of Bayelsa or previous population censorships; rather, we should focus on the main focus, which is the establishment of a federal medical center,” Lawan said.

Dickson insisted, however, that “debate and submissions in this hallowed chamber must be based on justifiable fact,” claiming that Binani referred to unverifiable population figures.

“I was only rising to enlighten, without prejudice to the bill’s merits or demerits, that the premise that she has put forward as a reason or one of the reasons why this bill should be considered is faulty,” he explained.

“That should be expunged; it should not form part of it. That is not factual; it is incorrect.”

Recall that Legit.ng had reported that Dickson reacted to the attack on his country home by unknown assailants.

In a message posted on his official Facebook page, Dickson, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Bayelsa West Senatorial District by-election, expressed shock at the incident.

He also lamented over the loss of a policeman keeping watch over his home during the attack.

“I received with shock, the sad news that gunmen attempted to invade my country home in Toru-Orua at midnight on Wednesday.

Sadly, the failed attack which led to an exchange of gunfire between the criminals and police officers resulted in the death of a policeman.