By Gideon Njoku
By this time next week, Bayelsans would have had a fair idea of who would be sworn-in as their new governor, come February, 2020.
Even though a number of candidates under different political parties are in the race, all eyes and activities are focused on the candidates of the two main political parties for the November 16 election – the candidates of the ruling party in the state, the PDP, Senator Douye Diri, and that of the main opposition party, the APC, Chief David Lyon.
The PDP an d Diri will strive to keep the state.
And the APC and Lyon will do everything to snatch the state from the PDP..
The contest is fierce. The battle is led by the leaders of both parties – Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, and his predecessor in office, Chief Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources. Both men are rivals. And belonged to the PDP. It was Dickson who stopped Sylva from getting a second term in office as governor.
Sylva defected to the rival APC. And since then, there has been no love lost between the two men. The APC has been doing everything to take the state. It is strongly believed that the reason Sylva was given the Petroleum Resources office is to use it for a run on the PDP.
And, since then, a number of people have jumped ship over alleged promises of contracts and board membership.
Even then, bookmakers insist that the PDP and its candidate, Diri, will come out victorious, especially, if the exercise is free and fair , without any undue interference from Security agencies, usually, accused of loyalty to the APC government at the centre.
Still, the PDP has a lot going for it. Since the return of democracy, Bayelsa has always been governed by the PDP. Almost every major politician in the State, was at one time or the other, a PDP member. Meaning that the only party most people know in the State is the PDP.
Most important, a number of the governors did very well while in office. The current governor, Dickson, has not disappointed, either. He is reputed to have massively brought development to the state, and aggressively protected the interest of the Niger Delta region.
The people are also talking about the world of difference between Diri and Lyon. While PDP’s Diri is well grounded in both the legislative and the executive arms of government, APC’s Lyon has no such experience.
Diri was a Commissioner, Deputy Chief of Staff, Principal Executive Secretary, Government House, Member, House of Representatives, and currently, a Senator.
Lyon has no such luxury of experience. A business man, he is allegedly reputed to have made a lot of money from being a pipeline protector for an oil company. In equal measure, he seems, also, to have made a lot of enemies on the job given the number of petitions against him over alleged killings in the process of protecting the pipelines.
Diri insists he is the best candidate and face for Bayelsa state. Most Bayelsans agree with him.
He explains why he is the best in a published interview he had earlier granted, but which excerpts, is reproduced below.
As the first elected Organising Secretary of the ljaw National
Congress, INC, it was the body that worked for the creation of Bayelsa state.
Our submission and proposition were for the creation of three states for the Ijaws – The Oil Rivers State, Bayelsa and Toru-Ibe State. Finally, we got only Bayelsa.
The INC tried to bring in a political supportive organ, which we called the National Solidarity Movement, NSM, and I contested election to be chairman of my Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA in 1999. I lost that election. Later, the NSM could no longer be sustained, and it was fused with the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
We all worked with Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha to become the first governor of the State. Thereafter, I was appointed first as a member of the Bayelsa State Development Centre, BYDC, and later elevated to the position of Executive Secretary. That was the office I held until I felt I could no longer continue with the government at the time.
I resigned, and came up with how we could eventually install another government in Bayelsa. So, I joined Chief Timi Alaibe who was with the NDDC as Executive Director, Finance and Administration. We tried that, and it didn’t work out.
A lot of people see me as someone who was a staff of the NDDC, but I wasn’t. I was a political ally and a close person to Chief Alaibe, believing that we were going to enthrone a government in Bayelsa that would be more responsive to the people.
I was with Chief Alaibe for about 10 years. One thing or the other happened each time we attempted, then he will return to NDDC. A few of us didn’t feel very comfortable with that.
The events of Chief Alamieyeseigha’s impeachment came, and thereafter, Dr Goodluck Jonathan took over. I was appointed Commissioner for Youths and Sports in 2006 and served till 2007. That was my meeting point with Governor Henry Serieke Dickson, who was the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
We had met earlier in PH during our days in the INC because we handed over the reins of office to them where he served as legal adviser to the body.
We all belonged to the same cabinet led by our former President, Goodluck Jonathan. By the time he was elevated to the office of the Vice President, and subsequently, President, a political vaccum was created. Chief Timipre Sylva came in and filled it for five years as governor.
At that time, I became a member of the governing board of the University of Maidugiri for four years before the election that brought in Governor Dickson.
Being a former colleague, Dickson invited me to be a part of his campaign. When I accepted the offer, and invited my political ally at the time, Chief Timi Alaibe, he didn’t take it lightly. That was how Alaibe and I parted ways.
When Dickson won, I was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, later, Principal Executive Secretary, Government House. In 2014, Governor Dickson released me to go to the National Assembly. I won a House of Representative seat and served from 2015-2019.
There is this issue of zoning in Bayelsa in the PDP. So, while I was in the House, there was a pressure for me to go to the Senate. I bought the form, but President Jonathan prevailed on me to allow the incumbent at the time, Senator Emmanuel Paulker to go in for a third term. The thinking of our people at that time was that Southern Ijaw, one of the three LGA’s in the Central Senatorial District, having produced Senator David Birigidi, who served for two terms, then, Senator Paulker from Yenegoa LGA, having, also, served two terms, in principle, therefore, it ought to be the turn of my LGA, Kolokuma Opokuma. But, Jonathan prevailed on me to allow Paulker a third term, so, I went to the House.
After four years in the House, there was no argument as to who would go to the Senate. I contested, and won.
But, again, my people called me. They said I have had both executive and legislative experience, and has been a constant in the PDP and the restoration agenda. Now that Governor Dickson is exiting, we want you to be his successor.
I made consultations with God, my boss, the Governor, and all the stakeholders, and the answer I got was positive. So, I picked the form.
It was agreed that the office should be zoned to The Bayelsa Central Senatorial District. So the names of three members of the Restoration Team were put up. But that didn’t stop others from other Districts from obtaining forms. As you are aware, we had 21 aspirants , the highest so far in the PDP in the State.
We all took the forms, but cautioned ourselves that it was a family affair, and as such, the contest ought not to degenerate into name calling, insults and abuses. We kept to that, even though at a point we saw some form of non-compliance, typical of politics.
At the end of the day, we had our primary, and I emerged the candidate.
In my acceptance speech, I told our party and the world that the winner of that contest was our party..
Bayelsa is a predominantly PDP -controlled state and all the aspirants will come together and think about our party continuing in the governance of Bayelsa state. We should come together and work for the success of our party. We are reaching out to them, using their friends and relations. They will come back. If I win the election, it will not be as Douye Diri. It will be for all.
I was with Timi Alaibe for 10 years. We hail from the same LGA. So, he is my brother. We are still talking to ourselves. He is a factor. He did well in the Primaries. Like every other aspirant, he came into the race to win. Politics is like looking for a wife to marry. You woo the person. I see him as my brother. I’m sure he sees me as one.
If we have a free and fair election, the APC cannot even win a Councillorship election in Bayelsa. Our appeal is that the security agencies must be professional. INEC must remain an Umpire, and if there is that fair and level playing ground, the opponents are neither here nor there to contest in this election. It is just the hype about Federal might by the using of security apparatus to intimidate the voters, or using INEC to write results. That is the propaganda we have been receiving. But they will be resisted by the People, by God’s grace.
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