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Bayelsa 2020: Shape of things to come

By Olawunmi Ojo
22 April 2019   |   3:20 am
Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced that the commission....

Dickson and Alaibe in friendly mood

Recently, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced that the commission had approved the timetable and schedule of activities for the off-cycle guber elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States. According to him, governorship elections in both states will hold on Saturday, November 2, 2019.

Okoye said, “The official notice for both elections will be issued on August 1, 2019, while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from August 2 – 29, 2019. Campaigns by political parties in public shall commence on August 2, 2019 and end on October 31, 2019.”

With Okoye’s announcement, the surreptitious moves by political gladiators seeking to take the reins from Governor Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa State come February 14, 2020, have become the basis of political discourse in the oil-rich state. More importantly, a number of issues and factors, which may sway the opinion of Bayelsans in determining the choice of the next occupant of the Creek Haven Government House, have continued to fuel the discourse.

Since 1999 when the country returned to democracy, the leadership of Bayelsa State has been a preserve of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – from the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former President Goodluck Jonathan, Timipre Sylva to Seriake Dickson.

Every attempt to break the stranglehold of PDP has been futile, including the one mounted by former Governor Sylva in 2015 when he presented himself for battle, garbed in All Progressives Congress’s (APC) robes. And at several fora, the incumbent, Dickson, has minced no words and spared no jab in rubbing it in that Bayelsa belongs to PDP and would remain its stronghold for long.

In recent times, however, APC, with Sylva yet as its arrowhead, have continued to mount challenge in the state. Interestingly, the party’s continuous nudge does seem to be yielding fruits, considering the results that the party came by in the last general elections.

APC won three National Assembly seats, among them Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, which is reputed for its enormous voting strength, and Bayelsa East Senatorial District, where former President Jonathan hails. In addition, it won four seats in the state Assembly. The results put PDP and its faithful in the state on edge, as it confirmed the rising popularity of the main opposition APC and foretells an upcoming governorship election that may be fiercely contested than ever.

According to an illustrious son of Bayelsa, who has been around and about the corridors of power since 1999, besides the party factor, there is the “very important” factor of zoning and which area deserves to present the next governor, ringing strong in the ongoing discourse. “It is not cast in stone by anyone,” he told The Guardian in an interaction. “But as echoed during the last governorship election, zoning may play a very important role in the emergence of the next governor. There is a growing consensus that the next governor should come from the Central Senatorial District, specifically from the Yenagoa and Kolokuma/Opokuma local council areas, which have both never produced any high-ranking government official.”

Bayelsa has eight local councils – Brass, Ekeremor, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Yenagoa. Southern Ijaw (Bayelsa Central), Ogbia, Brass (Bayelsa East) and Sagbama (Bayelsa West) have produced governors in Alamieyeseigha, Jonathan, Sylva and Dickson respectively. Will PDP, APC and the remaining multitude make zoning key in deciding who gets their respective nods? That remains to be seen.

Of course, another critical factor in the race to Creek Haven Government House would be that of endorsement by supposed power brokers in the state – the incumbent governor, Seriake Dickson, who, having spent two terms, is ineligible to re-contest, and former President Goodluck Jonathan, who still commands respect and exerts influence within the ruling party’s hierarchy. While the debate continues, the names of would-be governorship aspirants on the lips of Bayelsans have continued to swell across party divide.

The favoured Bayelsa Central District has Kolokuma/Opokuma, Yenagoa and Southern Ijaw councils. The Guardian gathered that some of the names that have been thrown up in discussions include elected senator, Doye Diri, a former aide to President Jonathan, Dudofa, and former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, all of the PDP, who are jostling from Kolokuma/Opokuma.

Senator Emmanuel Paulker of PDP, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha of APC, the Secretary to State Government, Barrister Kemela Okara (PDP), Keniebi Okoko and elected member of the House of Representatives, Professor Steve Azaiki (PDP) are all jostling from the Yenagoa council.

From the Southern Ijaw council, Ambassador Godknows Igali (PDP), current Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson, the current Chief of Staff, Hon. Talford Ongolo, the current PDP state chairman, Cleopas Moses and Joshua Maciver are all in the fray. Predictably, outside of the favoured Bayelsa Central zone, there is former governor Timipre Sylva of APC who is said to be preparing to run from Bayelsa East.

Of the lot, findings by The Guardian reveal that while Sylva remains the only strong contender from APC and may easily get the party’s nod, the trio of Alaibe, Azaiki and Okara are presumed as the favoured contenders on the platform of PDP who may have to battle to the last day for the party’s sole ticket.

Timipre Sylva
CHIEF Sylva, the current leader of APC in Bayelsa State, succeeded Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as governor in 2007. However, since leaving government, and having spent only one term, he has not hidden his desire to return to power. This explains why he contested against the incumbent in the December 2015 governorship election on the platform of the APC.

According to one of Sylva’s aides, who prefers anonymity, the former governor is not only going to contest this time again, but has been working with a number of grassroots’ groups to rally massive support in a bid to oust PDP from power. He said, “Chief Sylva is not worried about securing the party’s ticket; he has enough influence and has worked a great deal to secure that. What is more important to him is how to lead the party to defeat PDP when the chips are down. And you saw what happened in the recent elections.”

In APC circle, it is believed that if Sylva gets the party’s governorship ticket, he is a strong candidate with requisite clout to challenge whoever gets the ticket of the ruling PDP. Since Bayelsa is predominantly a PDP state, it might be a tall dream for an APC candidate to emerge as governor of the state in the 2019 elections, no matter how strong the candidate may be.

Timi Alaibe
THE former Managing Director of NDDC contested PDP’s ticket in 2003 against Alamieyeseigha and was prepared to challenge for the ticket in 2007 but was told to withdraw from the race as Jonathan went on to win the ticket. Jonathan was later elevated to the vice presidency of the PDP thereby paving the way for Sylva who came a distant second in the party’s primary.

In his quest to become governor, he moved to Labour Party and later APC where he contested the cancelled 2016 governorship primaries of the party before being wooed back to PDP. Late last year, when five political groups in the state announced their readiness to prevail on Alaibe to join the governorship race, they described him as “the most qualified to succeed Governor Seriake Dickson.”

The former banker and technocrat is believed to have the support of the people due to the projects executed in rural communities of the state and other parts of the region during his stint at NDDC as well as his role in the presidential amnesty programme for Niger Delta ex-agitators.

It is left to be seen whether the incumbent governor or former President Jonathan will be disposed to his ambition if he chooses to throw his hat in the ring. Alaibe is from one of the favoured local councils. He has been eyeing the governor’s seat since 2013. In fact, most of the contestants were at one time or the other his foot soldiers in his about 16-year quest for occupancy of the Creek Haven.

Professor Steve Azaiki
AZAIKI was recently elected as a member of the Federal House of Representatives to represent Yenagoa/Akolga Federal Constituency on the platform of the PDP. But the pioneer state Commissioner for Agriculture, former Secretary to the State Government and current Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Niger Delta University, has also begun to feature in high level discussions as one with the requisite experience to replace Governor Dickson and further build on the incumbent’s achievements.

Azaiki is reputed for his contributions to the growth and development of Bayelsa communities in particular, and the Niger Delta region in general. For instance, as the founder of World Environmental Movement for Africa (WEMFA), he consistently sensitised people nationally and internationally about the environmental challenges in the region.

Azaiki is co-founder and National Co-ordinator of National Think Tank Nigeria, a body of articulate and well-informed men and women with sound analytical minds, saddled with the onerous responsibility of fashioning out a progressive agenda for the country.

Given Azaiki’s long history of service to both his state and country, having served variously in the past as Senior Special Adviser to the Minister of Special Duties, served in the presidency, served as Senior Special Adviser to the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Senior Special Adviser, Ministry of Police Affairs, and Senior Special Adviser, Ministry of Youth Development, settling for him may not be a difficult choice for the hierarchy of PDP.

Competent sources told The Guardian that the elites and major stakeholders in the state would be easily disposed to an Azaiki candidacy if and when he throws his hat in the ring, and it could be a walk over for him.

Kemela Okara
ALTHOUGH, he has not publicly indicated interest in the governorship race, the name of the serving Secretary to the State Government is also being dropped as a likely successor to Dickson. Okara, a lawyer, is believed to be a close ally of the governor. Words, however, have it that a lot of elders within PDP see him as being too elitist and straightforward in his approach to issues.

A former Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Okara contested the governorship election in 2012 on the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but lost to Dickson. He is also an indigene of Boumodi in Yenagoa Local Government Area, an area that has never produced a governor.

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