Bayelsa: Dickson Fires 2 Female Appointees Loyal To First Lady

The battle line has been drawn between the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson and Dame Patience, the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The prolonged rift turned awry on Monday following the sacking of the State Commissioner for Local Government, Mrs. Marie Ebikake, and the governor’s Special Adviser on Federal Government Projects, Chief Remi Kuku.

It was gathered that the duo were sacked for allegedly being disloyal to the Governor and his camp by hobnobbing with the First Lady and members of her political bloc.

The Nation had reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which hitherto paraded itself as a close-knit family had been split into two - Dickson’s and First Lady’s camps.

It was also reported that persons found associating with Patience loyalists were viewed as haters of Dickson and vice versa.

Ebikake and Kuku were reportedly acting as moles for the First Lady whose ambition to remove Dickson and replace him with her loyalist and Senior Special Adviser to the President on Domestic Matters, Dr. Weripamowei Dudafagh, had become public knowledge.

The sacked female aides’ disloyalty to Dickson was said to have become obvious after they were spotted among the women that trooped out at the weekend to welcome Dame Patience at her Otuoke community, Ogbia Local Government area of the State.

The First Lady and her husband were in the State to attend the wedding ceremony of President Jonathan’s foster daughter, Miss. Inebai Paul, who got married to Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi.

Prior to the wedding, it was gathered that all aides of the Governor were directed to shun the First Lady to pay her back for a similar treatment she extended to Dickson and her wife, Rachel.

But Remi and Ebikake reportedly disobeyed the order as they freely identified with women loyal to the First Lady.