Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Seriake Dickson, has said leaders of All Progressives Congress are using the image of former President Goodluck Jonathan to give legitimacy to the alleged electoral fraud the party committed during the just-concluded governorship election in the state.

Dickson, who stated this during a press conference in Yenagoa on Tuesday, said the move was a strategy designed by APC leaders to justify the irregularities and the takeover of Bayelsa “by force.”

Some APC leaders, including governor-elect, Mr David Lyon; Governor of Jigawa State, Mr Abubakar Badaru; Governor of Kebbi State, Mr Atiku Bagudu; and Minister of State for Petroleum  Resources, Mr Timipreye Sylva, had visited Mr Jonathan after APC defeated PDP in the Bayelsa governorship election.

But Dickson said APC leaders were aware that Jonathan did not contribute to their manipulation of the electoral process to gain the upper hand against PDP.

The governor said, “That’s why they had to be taking David Lyon to him (Jonathan). They had to be talking about him; they had to visit him and appear to be celebrating a victory never earned.

“Like Pontius Pilate, they are preparing the window by which they will wash their hands strategically, and put it at his (Jonathan) doorstep; that he endorsed, sanctioned (and) legitimised it. That’s the game they are playing,” he added.

Dickson, who stated that he had “implicit confidence” in the judiciary to deliver justice on the pre-election related cases filed before it, called on the people to show restraint and not resort to violence.

Meanwhile, PDP, on Tuesday, disowned a report that Jonathan risked suspension over the party’s defeat.

PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in an interview with one of our correspondents said he was unaware of any plan by the party to suspend Jonathan.

Ologbondiyan said, “I am not aware (that Jonathan faces suspension). I am not aware that PDP is planning anything like that.”

Punch