Dickson okays Bayelsa handover committee

TRACKING____Twenty-six days to his formal handover of baton, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has constituted an inauguration committee to facilitate the ceremony.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, announced Dickson’s approval of the seven-member committee in a statement on Monday.

The outgoing governor will complete his constitutional two terms of eight years on February 14 and will handover government to the state governor-elect, David Lyon, of the All Progressives Congress.

The committee, according to the statement, is chaired by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Talford Ongolo, with the Principal Executive Secretary to the Governor, Felix Odubo, as secretary.

Other members are two security advisers to the state government, Boma Spero-Jack and Agberebi Akpoebi; State Director of Protocol, Joseph Akedesuo; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Orientation, Mightyman Dikuro and Grace Fiepere.

Iworiso-Markson, however, stated that “this inauguration committee is a sub-committee of the State Transition Committee.”

The transition committee, which Dickson inaugurated on November 20, 2019, is headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Kemela Okara, with Ongolo as the deputy chairman while the immediate past Head of Service, Luka Obiri, is the secretary.

The state chapter of the APC had on January 16 constituted a 126-member committee for the swearing-in.