IT is election season in Bayelsa State. The cradle of the Ijaw nation and glory of all lands is astir. Election for the office of the Governor is due on December 5, 2015 with the incumbent Mr. Seriake Dickson staking an almost unassailable and unprecedented performance record for re-election for a second term of office while his political opponents are feebly realigning and awkwardly laboring to build a coalition of forces to oust the incumbent from the Creek Haven, the State’s coveted seat of power.
Some months ago , there have been spate of defections, the most notable being that of high ranking party members from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC). Among the defectors are, Senator Heneiken Lopokri, Chief Clever Ikisikpo, former senator representing Bayelsa East Constituency, Dr. Taria Tebepah, erstwhile chairman of NNDC, former acting governors of Bayelsa State, Hon. Nestor Ibinabo and Werinipre Seibarugu and Chief Timi Alaibe, former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC), amongst others.
A pedestrian observer of Bayelsa politics may be tempted to imagine that Governor Dickson’s chance of re-election for a second term is doomed with the realignment of opposition forces, most of whom are without doubt political heavy weights and veritable stakeholders in the Bayelsa Project and the larger Ijaw national interest.
However, there is the need to properly discern the motives and motivations of these defectors as it will help us deconstruct their political objectives and enable the dispassionate observer of the Bayelsa political scene to come to terms with altruism of their mission and the futility of their mission which can best be described as dead on arrival.
A common thread that runs through the defectors is that they are associates and allies of Chief Timipre Silva, the former governor of the state who was controversially removed from office and whose tenure as a governor ordinary reminds the average Bayelsan of its wasted years and lost opportunities.
Majority of the defectors are people who came into prominence between 2007 and 2011 when Sylva was governor as such beneficiaries of his freewheeling largess with public funds. They are therefore nostalgically yearning to latch on to the fortunes of their erstwhile benefactor as he bids to relaunch himself to relevance. They constitute a curious bunch of blind loyalists and political journey men who at best have little or no electoral value.
They won elections into the State and National Assemblies during Sylva’s tenure and bluntly refused to support Dickson’s candidature in the run up to the 2012 governorship elections. Their wrong-headed support for Sylva eventually turned out to be a mismatch to Dickson’s overwhelming coalition of goodwill which comprises of the then President Goodluck Jonathan, the PDP machinery, party stalwarts and most importantly the good people and masses of Bayelsa who all saw in Dickson, the epitome of effective and compassionate leader the state rightly deserves.
Against these odds, Dickson coasted home to victory in the 2012 governorship elections and set out from day one to fulfil his covenant with Bayelsans by embarking on unprecedented developmental strides spanning across human capital development, building of critical infrastructure, initiation of welfare programmes, restoration of trust and ethical governance and winning the peace across the streets and creeks of the state and the larger Niger Delta region in general.
The major hallmark of Dickson’s governance is people-centered leadership which placed the interest of the masses at the heart of governance. It is critical to note that Dickson’s first term in office has been almost crises free, a feat which is a rarity in the previous era of governance and when viewed in the particular context of the combustive nature of the politics of Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta area where there are always myriads of interests to contend with.
The difference between Sylva and the disgruntled elite who now pose as defectors is his approach to governance. Dickson’s philosophy of governance is people first, and people always. It is a governance philosophy forged along egalitarian and time tested principle of working for the greatest good of the greatest number of people. What this means for the league of the disgruntled is that government money is no longer a largess that will be freely distributed to service the insatiable appetites of the tiny elite at the expense of the masses of the state.
Dickson brought order, integrity and decency to governance, he created opportunities for empowerment of all segment of the populace and created the enabling environment to launch Bayelsa into an industrial and tourist hub of the nation and an egalitarian, peaceful and prosperous 21st century society that will compete favorably with its peers on the national and global scale.
The enemies of Dickson and by extension of Bayelsa State, are those threatened by the ennobling vision and pragmatic leadership of this rare leader. With Dickson, Bayelsa is in safe and steady hands, and a second term victory for the performing governor will not only consolidate these achievements, but also be an opportunity for the state to reap from the culmination of the monumental ground work which he and his able team has painstakingly put in place during his first term in office.
It is very gratifying to note that support for the “Country Man Governor’’ continue to swell in leaps and bound. The recent rapprochement and vote of confidence by the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has removed the sail from the winds of his critics who had counted her as their ally in their evil adventure against the people’s governor. By this gesture of reconciliation, Dickson has once again demonstrated a streak of genius he is by reaching out and mobilizing all the critical constituents in the onerous but noble task of steering the state to its manifest destiny. Those who think they can drive a wedge between Dickson and the former first family have been put to shame as the Governor has remained loyal, humble, approachable and tolerant of all shades of opinion that are necessary to complement his relentless efforts to achieve excellence in governance. In the face of everything, Governor Dickson has earned and will retain the unwavering assurances and support of President Jonathan and Dame Patience in a bid to continue with the collective vision to position the state as a beacon of hope and excellence for the Ijaw Nation.
Those defecting from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and appropriating a curious ideology of change will be reminded by the enlightened and satisfied electorate of Bayelsa that they have never had it so good than under Governor Dickson. The giant strides that the incumbent has achieved in all facets of governance are prefect examples of good governance and speaks louder than the puerile and empty sloganeering the opposition will deploy in the days ahead in their futile attempt to sway the people of Bayelsans.
Those new found agents of change will not succeed in their argument that voting them into office will align the state with the government at the centre. In the evolving politics of the Nigeria nation, Bayelsa State as the epicenter of the Ijaw nation cannot afford to be sold short on empty promises. The group interest and strategic intent of the Ijaw nation will be best served by people who have the interest of the people at heart and not by merchants of fortune and desperate politicians who will trade off these essential group interests for their personal and short term gains.
So should Governor Dickson be jittery of these defections? I will emphatically answer in the negative. In as much as the presence of the defectors in the Governor’s Party would have been preferable, and their voices of dissents would have enriched the debate on the present and future of Bayelsa, and their past and present contributions would be needed to take the state to the desired level, where they however chose to abandon the train of excellence against wise counsel and irreversible onward motion, they would in no distant time, discover to their utmost chagrin that they acted in folly and bad judgment against a man of destiny.
Mr. Ottah Onumah, a journalist, wrote from Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
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