Bayelsa, a state with about two million populations, equivalent to countries like Botswana and Mali does not need introduction. It occupies a very strategic spot in the geo-political equation in the Nigerian configuration. Those who may underestimate the state or take its tiny population for granted may receive a shocker, given the relics of its historical struggle, right from the days of the early resistance movement against colonial incursion to the days of twelve days Isaac Adaka Boro, down to the recent activities of militancy have remained an interesting feature of the people.
So the question of expressing surprise at the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as president of Nigeria and the longest democracy in Africa should not arise.
Despite the sophisticated and republican nature of its politics, one thing you cannot take away from them is the unity of purpose they have displayed over their son’s administration, President Jonathan.
They would not need the biblical Balm of Gilead to heal its differences, once a common interest is placed on the table.
So you don’t need to be told by a spiritual surgeon or wear a military binocular to view the corporate unity the Ijaw people have weaved around President Jonathan.
However, back to the Local Politics of the state, it is a tale of intrigues, not different from the Nigeria politics of who takes over and who gets what and where.
One common feature about the state is the politics of re-election of governor of the state. It is always characterized by high-wire intrigues and blackmail erected against the incumbent.
Interestingly, opposition parties are not the real problem of re-election, rather the problem always lie within the rank and file of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party that have been in the saddle of governance since the restoration of democracy in 1999.
Contrary to what is obtainable in advanced democracies where the incumbent enjoys the benefit of first in the line up, in Bayelsa State re-election of any incumbent within the ruling party is like a Carmel passing through the eye of a needle.
For instance, when the first democratically elected governor of the state Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha sought for re-election in 2003, he was almost over ran by the powers that be.
If Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha will be frank about what he went through, one will doubt if he would allow an incumbent governor who will later become his colleague in the league of former governors to be subjected to what he passed through in the very hand of his own political party.
When Chief Alamieyeseigha was eventually re-elected, he was impeached two years into his second tenure in 2005.
Given the huge resources wasted on lobbying party officials during the re-election bid and the attempt to ward-off political foes and detractors, it becomes a nightmare that one will not allow it to visit the worst enemy.
When Dr. Goodluck Jonathan eventually took over the baton of governance following the impeachment and exit of Chief Alamieyeseigha, the then governor Jonathan, now president was faced with the reality of seeking elective position of governor in 2006 and 2007.
Though he got the ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party the harrowing experience he had will remain evergreen in his memory. To the glory of God, Dr. Jonathan was nominated and elevated as vice presidential candidate to the late Musa President Yar’ Adua.
Only recent, former governor Timipre Sylva who was seeking re-election could not realize it. He has his own story to tell.
Vast majority of the people of the state are wondering whether it is a spell on the state.
The common denominator that everyone seems to point at is poor performance on the part of the governors and politics of mischief and greed on the part of the citizens.
From which ever side of the coins you view the problem, one indisputable fact steering at the faces of Bayelsans is that resources which would have been used for the general uplift of the people are being wasted on frivolities and politics of vendetta and that of re-election.
Certainly, you do not need a professor of mathematics to compute the huge resources wasted on re-election bid.
The question that is begging for answer is why can’t the people of Bayelsa state, for once avoid this worn out path, come together and give the incumbent governor the benefit of doubt to continue particularly when there are concrete indices of performance.
Why can’t we break this jinx which has become more or less a spell as some people may assume?
The answer is simple. We cannot afford the luxury to waste our scarce resources in fighting ourselves.
This is where the people of Bayelsa State must view any attempt by governor Henry Seriake Dickson to seek re-election as a golden opportunity to break the jinx associated with re-election.
It is a sad commentary that huge resources that could have fixed several critical sectors in the state have been wasted on electoral matters of re-election.
The Peoples Democratic Party should as a matter of fact take stock of the transformation taking place under the administration of governor Dickson.
If performance index is a yard stick to measure re-election; then a peep into the performance profile of governor Dickson does not require any further debate in the state.
For example, in the area of education, when governor Dickson came on board, the education sector was in a state of comatose. The indices in terms of enrolment in schools and performance in the WAEC (NECO/JAMB was not a cheering news and in fact a serious concern.
Infrastructure in schools were in a state of dilapidation, lack of sitting desks, ill motivated and poorly trained teachers.
It was so embarrassing that in some schools in the rural areas; only one teacher served as headmaster and same time the teacher.
Moreover, the governor was not comfortable in placement of the state in the bracket of educationally less developed state, a tag that we have been hearing over 17 years ago when the state was created.
It was against this background, when the governor Dickson declared a state of emergency in the area of education, it was greeted with general applause.
Governor Dickson, who is popularly described by many in the state as “Talk na do governor which literarily means “Action Governor”, swung into action.
This is what Dennis Alemu surmised, as “The sturdy political will to entrench functional education delivery in Bayelsa state has become an article of faith in the restoration project”.
The government commenced the building and equipping of schools, engaging qualified teachers backed by training and retraining of the teachers, provision of educational inputs such as laboratories, libraries, ICT halls, among others to enhance learning.
Apart from sending thousands of Bayelsa State students to pursue foreign programmes in undergraduates and graduate studies, the government has set aside N7 billion naira for this purpose.
So far, 400 schools have either being built or comprehensively renovated. Model boarding schools have been built in all the three senatorial districts of the state.
Also, within a short period he took over as governor, several courses at the state owned Niger Delta University that were unaccredited have been accredited by the national university commission based on the life-line the governor provided for the school.
In the few years to come, Bayelsa state will come top in terms of human capital development.
In other areas of infrastructural development the governor has endeared himself to the people through people oriented projects like the first ever flyover built in the state. In the health sector there is massive rehabilitation of hospitals across the state. In the business hospitality, government is doing everything possible to make Bayelsa state a tourism destination by accelerating the construction and completion of the only five star hotel in the Yenagoa metropolis.
A visitor to the state who expressed delight at the unprecedented spate of development said, “Bayelsa is wearing a look indeed, an evidence of a serious government at work”
With these starling performance for just barely over two years deserve the commendation of all the good people of Bayelsa state not minding the political divide.
This uncommon government of restoration is a pride to the ruling PDP and indeed a beautiful bride to market at any election.
Therefore, any right thinking Bayelsa man or woman who has the development of the state at heart should rally round the governor and shun negative and despicable acts that would draw back the hand of development that had already been set on the desk.
Any body acting contrary to this should be treated as enemy number one of the state, a state that had suffered several development set backs as a result of politics of bitterness.
The governor on its part should not rest on its oars and resist the temptations of praise singers and concentrate on taking the state to the promise land.
