After weeks of grandstanding and muscle-flexing, a new era began at the Bayelsa State House of Assembly on Friday with Hon. Monday Obolo as the new speaker.
His emergence marked the end of the reign of Hon. Tonye Isenah who had vowed not to vacate the seat in spite of an agreement he allegedly struck with Governor Seriake Dickson to vacate the seat whenever occasion demanded.
Although Isenah denied having any such agreement with the governor and other party leaders in the state, a reliable party source gave an insight into the circumstances in which Isenah agreed to step down as speaker whenever the party wanted him to.
According to the source, Isenah had made it a part of his campaign promise to his constituents in Kolokuma/Opukuma Local Government Area to ensure that the constituency produced the Speaker once he was able to make it to the House.
After the election, he was said to have approached Governor Dickson to tell him about his ambition to become the speaker, but the governor frankly told him that he could not become the speaker.
Isenah, however, pleaded with the governor, saying that he had told his constituents that he would become the speaker and he would not want it to look as if he only tricked them into voting for him.
As the result of the recent governorship primary of the PDP in the state turned out, the winner, Senator Douye Diri, hails from the same Kolokuma/Opukuma Local Government Area as Isenah, prompting the party to tell Isenah to honour earlier agreement as it was not politically expedient that the governor and the speaker come from the same constituency. Isenah stood his ground. He found support in three APC members of the House and one PDP member. Seventeen PDP members aligned with the party and moved against him. To them, the alleged agreement is sacrosanct.
Leave a Reply