Dickson: Politicians don’t understand the concept of dialogue

Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa state, says Nigerian politicians do not understand the real sense of dialogue and argument.

Dickson said this when he featured on ‘People, Politics and Power’ a programme on AIT.

He agreed that there is a need for Nigeria to return to a “truly federal state” that would ensure fairness and equity.

“The political class has failed and I am talking generally. And that even manifests in the internal disputes. Political leaders now don’t understand the concept of dialogue and argument,” Dickson said.

“What they understand is violence, money politics, propaganda and blackmail; selfish agenda, promotion of ethnic and religious divisions.

“It is playing out in the PDP where a common dispute is in the supreme court, we are still waiting for the judgement.

There is crisis in APC too. Leaders don’t talk. It’s worse in APC. I hear since they took over power they have not been holding NEC meetings and all that. It’s a shame.”

He said the founding fathers of the nation held a lot of conferences within and out side Nigeria, which contributed to the growth of the country.

Dickson argued that the current state of the nation was as a result of distortions in the way the nation was organised.

He maintained that because of the anxiety raised by the word “restructuring”, a committee could be set up to distill the several reports that had been generated in the past.

The governor, therefore, called for a reorganisation or restructuring of the country to minimise the several agitations currently going on all over the nation.

Drawing examples from the rest of the world, Dickson said countries that did not allow for debates and arguments in the past ultimately disintegrated.

“Look back at what happened (to Nigeria) in the 60s . Look at Sudan and see where they are. Yugoslavia is now almost seven countries. Every nation is an artificial creation,” he said.

“That is the very essence of the call for some kind of meeting of minds of Nigerians to reorganise, because a lot of people have issues with the word restructuring and then make it more stable, lasting and prosperous.

“So, very often I hear people say Awolowo referred to Nigeria as a mere geographical location. He was right. Every nation is. What gives essence to nations is shared values, shared views as to what citizens think of themselves and of the country.

“That’s the root of the call for restructuring, which by the way is reorganisation. We have to cool the heat because nobody will benefit from war or crisis or violence.

“We have gone from crisis to crisis and we are almost at the precipice. That’s why I made the suggestion that the federal government should set up a committee.

“You don’t need to call it a constitutional conference, just a committee that will harness all the former reports, bring out the salient issues and then give it to the national assembly leaders.

On the current conflict between the legislature and the executive, Dickson said it was healthy for democracy, noting that politicians should “disagree to agree.”