I have read with rapt attention media reports of the zigzag defections of some members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa, the home state of the immediate past president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Curiously, the leadership of the opposition, particularly Chief Timipre Sylva, turned it into a media jamboree. Sylva has been trying, to no avail, to reap political capital from it in preparation for the declaration of his vaulting ambition to return to power after more than four years of his misadventure in the Creek Haven, the state’s seat of government. And the narrative was skewed as if the defection was a one-way traffic, whereas hundreds of politicians from many political parties have also been thronging PDP’s camp in recent times.
It is interesting to note that over 98 per cent of the defectors are Sylva’s appointees, associates, relatives and people he had used his office as governor to rail-road into the state and national assemblies between 2007 and 2011. Interestingly, almost all of these people did not support the governorship ambition of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson in 2012 when the election held. Instead, they supported Sylva even when it was clear that the then President, Dr. Jonathan, the critical stakeholders, the PDP apparatchik and, of course, majority of the people in the state were backing Dickson.
Curiously, the names of same people who claimed to have defected to APC since the PDP lost power at the federal level are being bandied week in, week out whenever announcements of defections are carried in the media, making the whole Bayelsa defection a macabre dance! Can one person defect to the same party twice? But I am impressed with the way Governor Dickson handled the defection. Those who do not know the talk na do governor well had expected him to be hostile and deny the opposition the use of public facilities, but Dickson made the Samson Siasia Stadium available to them and provided security for a hitch-free decamping event recently; the same gesture the governor extended to President Muhammadu Buhari when he launched his campaign in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital. The reverse was the case in 2011 when Sylva, as governor, denied Buhari the use of the stadium and the general’s campaign was disrupted as hired youths pelted Buhari and his team with stones and sachet water.
Top amongst the defectors are Hon. Heineken Lokpobri, the immediate past senator representing Bayelsa West; Chief Clever Ikisikpo, former senator representing Jonathan’s (Bayelasa East) between 2011 and 2015; former Chairman of NDDC, Dr. Tarila Tebepah and former Managing Director of NDDC, Chief Timi Alaibe. Others are the Commissioner for Agriculture under Sylva, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha and former House of Reps member representing Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency between 2007 and 2015, Hon Warman Ogoriba; two former acting governors of the state, Hon. Nestor Ibinabo and Hon. Werinipre Seibarugu; former Finance Commissioner under Sylva, Mr. Charles Opuala and a host of other aides, appointees and associates of Sylva.
Indeed, some of these characters were first recruited by the former First Lady to undermine Dickson ahead of the 2015 general election and to prepare the ground for the supplanting of Dickson with her anointed godson, Hon Weripamowei Dudafa, who was Commissioner for Local Government under Sylva and Special Assistant on Domestic Matters to the immediate past president. The defunct Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) under the leadership of Seibarugu became a veritable tool used to blackmail and cow the Dickson administration. They made it look to unsuspecting Nigerians that the governor was not supporting the re-election bid of Jonathan while in actual sense, he was the one leading the charge and taking all the shots fired at the former president!
Indeed these same people calling for Dickson’s head are not doing anything strange. They are back to a familiar turf. As it was in 2012, so it is now and so it may be on December 5 when we shall all cast our vote and respect the majesty of the ballot box! What is, however, strange is that all the defectors want to be governor in December, making analysts to dub APC in Bayelsa as a party of serial governorship aspirants without membership! After three and a half years of Dickson’s administration, one would have expected these defectors to shift ground and come on board the restoration train. More so that Dickson has consistently patronised and extended the olive branch to them.
Curiously, Alaibe, Tebepah, Ikiogha and all the former NASS members dumping the PDP are big time contractors in Dickson’s government. Yet they accuse the governor of not empowering them. Similarly, pundits had thought that since the thrifty Countryman Governor has delivered on his campaign promises by running the state in the fear of God, turning the state into a huge construction site, restoring peace to the hitherto volatile Bayelsa and providing purposeful, transparent and accountable leadership to the people, those jumping the ship would remain with Dickson to consolidate the gains recorded so far. That didn’t happen understandably because the defection is not about the well-being of the people, the development of Bayelsa State and the Ijaw nation; all that matter to the defectors is their self aggrandisement. Chief Richard Kpodo, factional chairman of APC in Bayelsa State, offered an insider perspective as to why some politicians were joining the ruling party when he said they were corrupt politicians who wanted to evade prosecution by the federal government of President Buhari!
Information in the public domain shows that their grouse with Governor Dickson is that he has refused to loot or share public funds with anybody; a virtue that has earned the governor national and international recognitions, which the enemies believe must be cut down by stopping his re-election. A few of them also beef the governor for embarking on the ambitious first ever free and compulsory education programme and the social security scheme for the aged in Bayelsa State. They believe the money that should have been ordinarily shared among the elites is being channeled to the servicing of the lofty programmes, but the governor remained unshaken!
In his recent media chat in Yenagoa, the state capital, Chief DSP Alameiyesiegha, first elected governor of Bayelsa State and Chairman of the PDP elders Committee/ Reconciliation Committee in the state, corroborated the above assertion mildly. He said: “As chairman of the Reconciliation Committee, we have invited so many people (defectors)… We dialogued with them and most of them saw reasons with us. The whole thing (defection) is about self-interest. Their grievances range from not being given appointments to not receiving their severance allowances during Timipre Sylva administration, or because they were not picked as candidates in the last general election. And I asked the question: must it always be you?”
However, the cheering news, according to Alameiyesiegha, fondly called the Governor General of the Ijaw Nation, is that many of these ‘aggrieved’ politicians will return to PDP before the governorship election already slated for December 5 because, according to him, APC has no place in Ijaw land and Bayelsa in particular. He also expressed confidence that Dickson will be re-elected, declaring; “Governor Dickson has done well. What I have seen on ground in the last three years is very encouraging…”
For the PDP and Governor Dickson, the so called defection to APC makes little or no difference to the strength and spread of the party in Bayelsa State. Yes, the PDP has lost out at the centre but in Bayelsa and many Niger Delta states, the party waxes stronger and remains a winning behemoth. Apart from the weighty voice of the Governor-General, the mainstream women and youth groups in the state, the clergy and Ijaw elders in Bayelsa have condemned the defection of some PDP members to APC, many of whom were aides, appointees and associates of Sylva. They are leading the movement for the re-election of Governor Dickson. Tagged Operation Retain Dickson in Creek Haven, the groups insist they must re-elect Dickson in government house to reward him for his hard work, vision and selfless service to fatherland.
At separate events, these groups endorsed the re-election of Dickson. The elders for example, under the auspices of Bayelsa Elders Consultative Council, condemned the APC for perpetrating “falsehood” in the state. They also lambasted the PDP politicians that defected to the APC, describing them as shame to the Ijaw nation. The group, which is led by a PDP chieftain, Chief Francis Duokpola, wondered why a party that controversially wrested power from Jonathan would be embraced by desperate politicians whom they describe as self-seeking. They vowed to stop APC from gaining root in Bayelsa State even as they declared, “The APC has declared war on the Ijaw nation. Right from the days of our forefathers, the Ijaws have never been conquered and our generation cannot be conquered by APC!” The APC may be enjoying a synthesis of membership now, which will definitely lead to antithesis after a flag bearer emerges, and eventual implosion before the December 5 polls.
For sure, the evidence on ground doesn’t indicate that the APC will defeat the PDP. Already the PDP produced 105 councillors and the eight council chairmen, controls the 24-man state House of Assembly with 21 members and produced all members of the National Assemblies! And with a litany of over 500 government appointees and strong PDP structure, it will take a camel to pass through the eye of a needle for APC to sack PDP from Creek Haven.
Aside these advantages, if Governor Dickson declares for second term, he will be banking on the people and his landmark achievements in office to retain his plum job. But it won’t be a bad idea for the Alameiyesiegha committee to bring back the obviously repentant defectors to the PDP family.
No comments:
Post a Comment