The gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the upcoming governorship election in the November 11 Bayelsa State governorship polls, Udengs Eradiri, has described as disgraceful and disastrous the ranking of the state as the second poorest state after Sokoto State in Nigeria.
Eradiri stated that Bayelsa’s poor rankings in all economic and developmental indices were an eloquent testimony that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its gubernatorial; candidate, Governor Douye Diri, had failed the state.
Speaking in Yenagoa, on Thursday, Eradiri said the PDP and Diri had nothing to campaign with as far as the forthcoming election was concerned.
The LP standard bearer said that he could not understand why there was alleged stinking poverty in Bayelsa despite the small population of the state and the huge revenue allocations from various sources.
He attributed the woes of Bayelsa to many years of cluelessness, incompetence, avarice, profligacy and anti-people policies of the PDP, insisting that the current administration had no idea of how to tackle the issues.
He, therefore, called on the people to massively vote for the credible alternative offered by the LP, stressing that with his ‘People, Education, Agriculture, Power’ agenda, he would give the state a solid fresh beginning, if elected.
Eradiri said, “Why is Governor Douye Diri and the PDP still campaigning for a second term? Data technology company, StatiSense, recently unveiled the Multidimensional Poverty Index of 2022 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
“That report exposed the number of people living in multidimensional poverty in the oil-rich Niger Delta states. That report is alarming, and distressing and goes to show the failure of the PDP leadership of Bayelsa since 1999. It shows that the PDP leadership and the current government of Douye Diri diverted and squandered all our commonwealth.
“Bayelsa has a red flag in all developmental indices. It will shock you to know that 2.61 million people out of the 2.9 million people are languishing in abject poverty. This is to say that 88 per cent of our population are extremely poor despite the humongous resources and revenue coming into this state.
“While Sokoto, a desert, occupies the first position, Bayelsa, an oil-rich state is coming second. What other proof do we need to know that the PDP has remained the whirlwind that will not blow this state and our people any good?
“What other evidence do we need as a people to know that this forthcoming election affords us, the people, an opportunity to kick out Diri and his party? They mean no good for our state and should be given a red card.”
Additionally, he noted that with Bayelsa ranked as the third worst state in the unemployment index in the country, Diri and his party had no business seeking any re-election.