The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, has accused the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, of wasting almost N100bn on the construction of runway for the state airport.
Oshiomhole spoke on Thursday in Abuja after a meeting with governors Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa), as well as a former Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.
The former Edo State governor said Dickson should blame himself and not President Muhammadu Buhari for the flooded runway which had not opened for business.
According to Oshiomhole, the governor lied by saying the Federal Government shut the airport to rob him of the glory ahead of the November 16 governorship election in Bayelsa.
Oshiomhole said, “You know the fact that Bayelsa airport has been flooded. Is it Buhari that flooded the airport? It is flooded because the runway is below the ground level. They ought to have carried out proper survey. So, the runway is flooded because it was not built properly.
We challenge Dickson to use his own plane for a test and land on that airport. We challenge Dickson to prove that, when the airport was flooded, the flood was caused by Buhari. We challenge him to show the kind of control tower he has built.”
Oshiomhole accused the governor of building the most expensive runway in the world and yet could not serve the people.
He said, “Was it Buhari that asked him to inflate the contract because there are different versions of the actual cost. I put it to my dear friend and brother, Dickson, that that contract has entered the Guinness Book of Record as the most expensive runway ever built anywhere in the world.
“So, the truth is, he’s in trouble. He cannot tell his people why he would spend close to N100bn for a facility such as that. Yet, he himself cannot land on it.”
Lokpobiri promised to work for the APC candidate, David Lyon, in the election.
He urged all his supporters to vote for the APC.
Speaking earlier, Badaru said the APC had gained the ground in Bayelsa and would win the election convincingly.
