Mike Odiegwu in Yenagoa reports on the current political twists in Bayelsa State and reports that even in his home state, Mr. President’s political fate seems to hang in the balance ahead of the February presidential election
FROM 1999 to 2011, Bayelsa State was strapped to the armpit of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Though other parties existed in mushroom-fashion, the PDP dominated the political landscape and single-handedly decided who got what and when.
In fact, the mushroom opposition parties were pawns in the hands of the ruling party. They only became relevant whenever aggrieved and irreconcilable PDP members used them as platforms to seek elections only to return to the ruling party after winning or losing the elections. Such fate befell the Labour Party (LP), Progressive Party Alliance (PPA) and the KOWA party.
All the political affairs in the state were arrogantly referred to as a family business of PDP. In fact, the party paraded itself as a close-nit family where harmonization was an acceptable modus operandi of reconciling political scores and differences. Elections were hardly held in the state as the government reserved the whims and caprices to decide winners of party nominations and elected officials. Indeed, it was then said that election results were written at the Bayelsa State Government House.
Why President Goodluck Jonathan got bloc votes in 2011
Apart from the sympathy invoked by his shoeless campaign mantra, President Goodluck Jonathan got the bloc votes of his state in 2011 because of the perceived unity in the state chapter of the PDP.
The, then governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, ensured that all the votes went to his kinsman. The Jonathan’s candidacy was the project of the entire state as Sylva deployed the machinery of the government to deliver the state to his brother.
Little wonder the state was made too hot for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) when they came to campaign in the state. Violence broke out at the campaign ground after some hired youths reportedly hurled stones at Buhari. Expectedly after the election, Jonathan cleared the votes of his state.
Reversal of Jonathan’s fortunes
Pundits believe that Jonathan is the architect of his alleged collapsed image and dying goodwill in the state. They quickly recalled his internecine war against Sylva and how he booted the former governor out of office. The President’s revenge mission against Sylva tore the state apart and commenced the era of permanent division in the PDP. Eventually, Sylva pulled his political structure out of PDP to the main opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).
Apart from Jonathan’s vendetta, there are also general misgivings among the people of the state against the President. Many people are disconnected from his government which is generally viewed as divisive and ethnic-driven. Observers believe that his administration is only beneficial to his kinsmen from his local government area in Ogbia.
They argued that other areas have nothing to show that the President is from the state. They feel abandoned, neglected and deliberately excluded from presidential windfall. Even the people of Ogbia are complaining against the President style of leadership. They conclude that most of the benefits are skewed to favour people from his community in Otuoke.
For instance, all the graduates in Otuoke are said to have been offered jobs by federal ministries, parastatals and departments based on directives from the Presidency while unemployment is ravaging other graduates from other parts of the state.
Apart from that, Ogbia has remained highly underdeveloped with narrow old location roads of oil companies and colonial bridges dotting the entire area. The people are also angered that for about six years that Jonathan has occupied the Presidency, there are no tangible projects in the local council.
In fact, other core Ijaw local government areas are angry that they have nothing to show for Jonathan’s Presidency in terms of physical infrastructure and manpower development.
For instance, the people of Koluama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area are livid with anger against the President over his handling of the Chevron’s gas rig explosion that polluted their waterways and denied them their main source of livelihood, fishing. They recalled the alleged ignominy in which President treated them over the matter and how he has turned deaf ears to their outcries for adequate compensation.
They have also accused the President of deception, saying that Jonathan through his Special Adviser on Niger Delta Matters, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, once visited them and promised a special training and empowerment programme for women and youths; a promise that has never materialised.
Indeed, apart from the Federal University, which critics said, was selfishly tucked into Otuoke community, his critics said that the state has little to show for Jonathan’s presidency
Patience Jonathan’s ambition
It has become an open secret that Dame Patience, the wife of the President, has an ambition to oust Dickson and replace him with her loyalist, Dr.
Weripamowei Dudafagh, who is the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Domestic Matters. Since the anti-Dickson’s plot leaked to the public, the First Lady has been making moves that allegedly confirm it.
First, came a report that she was instrumental to the posting of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Valentine Ntomchukwu, to the state with a Joseph-Mbu-like agenda. Another was her resignation as a super Permanent Secretary from the state civil service; an appointment she so much desired and accepted despite public opprobrium. She was said to have tendered her resignation letter to enable her stand on a moral rostrum to fight the governor.
Recently, Mrs. Jonathan’s relationship with the Transformation Agenda of Nigeria (TAN) has been in focus. It was reported that the state chapter of TAN, the main campaign group of Jonathan, has been hired by the First Lady to kick-start the Dickson-must-go project.
It was observed that TAN immediately went through radical leadership overhaul. All the loyalists of Dickson in TAN were weeded off to allow the associates of Dame Patience have full control of the group.
The group, which was hitherto under the control of the Chairman, Bayelsa State Local Government Commission, Chief Talford Ongolo, was handed over to a former Deputy Governor and Patience’s ally, Chief Werinipre Seibarugu. Key members of TAN in the state are past political office holders, especially persons who served under the former governor, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Without mincing words, since the ambition of the First Lady became public knowledge, there has been sharp division in the state chapter of the PDP. The party is now polarized into two camps – pro Dickson’s camp and First Lady’s bloc. Members of the two factions view one another as mutual enemies.
The two camps are separate and distinct as they try not to be found together in social and political gatherings. Persons found associating with loyalists of Patience are viewed as haters of Dickson and vice versa. Pundits believe that the discordant tunes in the party, allegedly orchestrated by Patience, may cost Jonathan the bloc votes of the state.
Analysts put the blames squarely on the doorsteps of the President and his wife. While they argue that Dickson is busy preaching peace and working for the reelection of Mr. President, the First Lady is preoccupied with an ambition to remove Dickson, a distracting aspiration that is clearly stalling the Jonathan’s project. Moreover, pundits are confounded that the President has not called his wife to order.
Youths at war over Patience
Already, the internal crisis is threatening the Presidential campaign of the PDP scheduled to hold in the state in February 5th. Youths under the aegis of the Bayelsa Youth Vanguard (BYV) issued a statement recently barring the First Lady from accompanying her husband to the state on the proposed campaign date. They further threatened to disrupt the rally if Mrs. Patience ignored the warning.
The youths accused her of causing crisis in the state, warning her to desist from her divisive conduct or face the consequences. They accused Mrs. Jonathan of planning to destabilise the state and fuel needless crisis and political tension in the state the same way she did in Rivers State.
The youngsters in a statement signed by their spokesperson said Patience would only be allowed to come to the state “if she retraced her steps”, adding, “or otherwise, we will mobilise against the President’s rally.”
“We are constrained to issue this statement to bar the President’s wife from accompanying President Goodluck Jonathan to Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, for the presidential rally on February 5.
But Dickson immediately rose to condemn the threat. He said the state would remain home to President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife, and every citizen of the country.
He said the government and the good people of the state will at all times, accord Jonathan, his wife, and other members of the first family their due honour, respect and reception in the state, “as we have always done”.
In fact, the threat has continued to generate reactions in the state. Commenting on the development, TAN in a statement signed by Egba, called on security agencies to probe the group’s outburst.
Egba said: “We have noticed that since alleged cold war between the State Government and the First Lady became a topic for public discourse, more individuals and groups in the state have become emboldened to make statements that are clearly disrespectful to the office and person of the First Lady.
“Inspite of the foregoing, TAN would like to appeal to the First Lady to accept this indiscretion as part of the price for leadership and forgive all those who may be found culpable, as the Mother of Nigerians.”
Furthermore, No fewer than seven youth groups have rallied round Dame Patience and warned troublemakers to steer clear of the PDP Presidential rally. The youths vowed to use “all means possible” to deal with anti-Patience elements.
The warning was issued in Yenagoa at a joint press briefing by the George Turner-led Jonathan Youth Vanguard (JOY 2015), Coalition of Bayelsa Youth Groups and Coalition of Bayelsa State Students.
JOY 2015 and the coalition of other youths said they had concluded plans to mobilise 10,000 youths to attend the rally and provide maximum security for the Dame Patience.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, the state Coordinator, JOY 2015, Mr. Daniel Etai, said it would be suicidal for anybody to think of preventing the First Lady from coming to the state.
He said the “authentic youths” and students’ leaders from the state were eagerly waiting to welcome the First Lady to the state.
Another group rises against Patience
Hardly had some youth groups assured the First Lady of her safety than creek warriors under the aegis of the the Mangrove Boys of Bayelsa (MBB) repeated the threat of the Bayelsa Youth Vanguard. The creek warriors insisted that the presence of Patience at the proposed rally would cause tension and security breaches in the state.
The group, in a statement signed by its President, Mr. Opuyo Engobara, and Secretary, Mr. Warrman Aderi, said the First Lady’s actions and pronouncement in recent times were fueling crisis in the state.
The youths enumerated eight sins of Dame Patience and accused her of opening a new secretariat for TAN in the state with an intention to mobilise against the governor. They noted that Mrs. Jonathan tinkered with the leadership of TAN and aided her loyalists to hijack the campaign group.
The youths further lamented that Dame Patience used the occasion of sharing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) items at the Samson Siasia Stadium to make inflammatory statements against the governor.
APC’s incursion
Strategists believe that the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) may eventually become the main beneficiary of the internal crisis rocking the PDP.
However, signs that things are no longer as they were in 2011, became more visible recently during the Presidential campaign of the APC. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who was booed and stoned in 2011 when he came to campaign in the state as the Presidential candidate of the defunct CPC, received a heroic welcome at the Samson Siasia Stadium recently.
Youths chanting “sai Buhari”, trooped to the stadium to catch a glimpse of the APC presidential candidate. The campaign also received a boost following the presence of Sylva and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi. It was, indeed, Sylva’s first homecoming since the PDP denied him reelection. The crowd paid rapt attention as Buhari articulated his plans for the state and the Niger Delta region.
In fact, before the cheering crowd, Sylva disowned Jonathan as his brother. He said: “Bayelsa, you are known to lead the way against oppression, against ineptitude. Today, we must take that leadership. Let us as Bayelsa people lead the rest of Nigeria to vote out the PDP.
“Today, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is here in person and I want to assure you that I have gone to the east of this country, I have gone to the west. I have gone to the south and north of this country and I bring you goodnews. One assurance is that Gen. Buhari has won already”.
The former governor whose speech was interrupted by applauses from the crowd, asked the people to join the winning train.
“Go and tell your sisters at home. Go to the creeks of the state. In less than six weeks we will have the opportunity of exercising our fundamental human rights of voting. That opportunity we must use wisely.
“This time, you will use your hands to vote APC and Gen. Buhari into office and welcome prosperity into your home. You will welcome good governance into Nigeria once again”, he said.
Also addressing the crowd, Amaechi said the next election will be based on merit and challenged President Jonathan to show his scorecard in the region and the state. He said the Niger Delta, after years of clamouring for resource control, got an opportunity to control the entire country through the election of President Jonathan.
He, however, regretted that Jonathan who was also a product of the struggle has only succeeded in rewarding the region with poverty, hunger and lack of development.
He said: “They said President Jonathan refused to develop Rivers State because he is quarreling with me. Why has he refused to develop Bayelsa or is he also quarreling with Governor Dickson? What has Bayelsa people benefitted from this government? Nothing.”
Sylva further lampooned Jonathan and gave reasons why he publicly denounced the President as his brother. He said the President failed to develop the Niger Delta region.
Besides, Sylva said Jonathan denied him all the love, care and protection expected from a brother. Insisting that the President betrayed the aspirations of the people of the region, he said that Jonathan by so doing rejected the brotherhood of his people.
Sylva said he was convinced that the candidature of Buhari would change the polity and the nation for good. He said the bond he shared with President Jonathan ended when he removed him from office and hatched series of plots to put him in jail without success.
The former governor, who is flying the flag of APC for the Bayelsa West Senatorial District, said he feels more comfortable working with his new political friends than Jonathan. He said Jonathan plotted his political downfall and serially failed to attract the expected development to the region.
He said: ”Please, go and ask my so-called brother. If he is really my brother. I don’t think he is my brother. Who is your brother? Your brother is who looks after you. He who looks after your back. This is a so-called brother who pushed you to the fox. As far as am concerned, my brother is the one I met on the street and took me into his home.
“And am sure you will agree with me that a brother who pushed me into the street for the fox to eat me up is not my brother. As far as am concerned, I don’t see him as a brother anymore. Please, I don’t think Bayelsa should make the mistake. His problem is that he only thinks about himself.
