Sen. Douye Diri (PDP-Bayelsa) on Wednesday, formally joined the governorship race in the state, saying he had no inordinate ambition for contesting the election scheduled for Nov. 16.
Diri spoke with newsmen shortly after obtaining his nomination and expression of interest forms at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Headquarters in Abuja.
According to the lawmaker, his ambition is to further serve the people of Ijaw ethnic nationality.
He pledged to build on the standard set by the incumbent, Gov. Seriake Dickson, in the areas of health, education, security, infrastructure and other spheres of human endeavour.
“Let me state clearly that I do not have any inordinate ambition. I was only motivated into joining the governorship race in order to build on the monumental achievements of Dickson.
“For me, it has been service all my life; service to the Ijaw ethnic nationality; service to my state; service to humanity.
“I have held several positions in the state, and today, I am doing same as a federal legislator. So it is all about service to our people,” he said.
Diri said that there is no kingmaker in Bayelsa, adding that there is also no division in state’s chapter of the party.
“Please let me put this very clear; I don’t know of anybody called a kingmaker in the state. PDP in the state is one under the leadership of the governor,” the senator said.
He urged all PDP governorship aspirants in the state to avoid acts that could lead to division within the party before, during and after the party’s primaries.
“The primary is not a do or die. It is an intra-party affair which should not be allowed to cause any division amongst us.
“So I’m appealing to all my co-aspirants to avoid throwing tantrums at one another. We must also be ready to work together with whoever that emerges as our candidate at the primaries.
“The ultimate objective is for our party to come out victorious at the election,” he said.
