Stop calling Buhari ‘Baba go slow,’ Dickson warns

The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has said it is wrong for some Nigerians to call President Muhammadu Buhari “Baba go slow,” adding that such a derisive appellation demeans the office of the President in the eyes of the international community. Speaking during a news conference at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Tuesday, Dickson said that calling the President derogatory names was bad politicking. He also condemned those who referred to former President Goodluck Jonathan as “clueless,” saying it was wrong to demean the occupier of the highest office in the land. The governor, whose tenure expires on February 28, 2016, has yet to formally declare his intention to seek re-election in the December 5, 2015 governorship election coming up in the state. He said, “What are you saying when you call President Buhari ‘Baba go slow?’ In what light are you putting the President before the international community? When you refer to someone as ‘clueless’, what do you mean?” Dickson explained that politics must be played with honour, dignity and integrity, stressing that the best way to develop the country was for the opposition and the ruling party to interrogate ideas and put the interest of the nation first always. “We should pray for our leaders. We should support them. Bad politics is not good,” he said. He dismissed the insinuation that the wife of former President Jonathan, Patience, was sponsoring a candidate in the All Progressives Congress against his governorship ambition. “Patience Jonathan is not my enemy. I’m not aware she’s sponsoring any candidate against me. Former President Jonathan believes I should be re-elected. He is my elder brother.” Dismissing the wave of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC in the state, the governor said the defection was inspired by greed, ambition and personal interests. He said, “All those who defected are my contractors. Would you call someone who gave you a contract your enemy? They are positioning themselves for federal appointments, as my party cannot give them that. “I have faced stiffer opposition in the past and I came out victorious. The PDP is solidly on the ground in Bayelsa and nothing can shake it. In the past 16 years, Bayelsa has always been with the ruling party. That is why some of them are going to the APC. It’s all part of politics. The defectors are not my enemies.”