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Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
“It is only our unity that can give us victory and if we are not united, they (APC) can get it.” Those were the words of Former President Goodluck Jonathan during the inauguration of the Bayelsa Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Elders Advisory Council at Bayelsa State Government House on the need for the party leaders to eschew mudslinging ahead of the PDP governorship primaries. Whether this word of caution was taken seriously is a subject of debate. But one thing was clear: the PDP that went into the 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa was in no way a match for the one that defeated the APC in the 2015 guber poll. The post-primary crisis that engulfed the party drove a wedge into its heart and weakened its cohesive strength.
The outcome of the election and the battle for the control of the state is likely to shift to the courts especially since the APC had some pre-election issues to sort out. However, the general impression from the streets and across the eight local government areas was that the PDP had lost its support base through a host of self inflicted woes. Many believe it underrated the machinery at the disposal of the APC going into the governorship election. And even before voting closed on Saturday, November 16, leaders of the PDP across the eight local governments including Governor Seriake Dickson and the PDP governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri knew the party was in trouble as the APC bared its full fangs.
By the conclusion of voting and collation of results on Saturday extending to Sunday November 17, the APC taking advantage of a combination of factors that had weakened the support base of the party dealt it a major blow and won the governorship election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Southern Ijaw agenda
The leaders of the PDP from Southern Ijaw might pontificate from now till tomorrow about their love and support for the PDP but the reality of the 2019 governorship election was that a Southern Ijaw agenda cum project were executed and they favoured the APC. It is on record that five PDP governorship aspirants namely Dr Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, Dr Goodknows Boladei Igali, Dr Nimbofa Ayawei, former Speaker, Friday Konbowei Benson and Chief of Staff, Talford Ongolo contested and lost the governorship primary election. Their loss resonated across the length and breadth of Southern Ijaw as the people believed it was their turn to produce the governor to compensate for the tenure the first executive governor of the state, late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, did not complete. Though Ayawei accepted to be the Director-general of the Douye Diri campaign organisation while Benson and Ongolo appeared at the rally held in Southern Ijaw and even made speeches in support of Douye Diri, their body language was clear enough for their many followers. Osaisai and Igali did not hide their displeasure with the emergence of Diri and the governorship poll was where their own people decided to punish PDP its sins against Southern Ijaw.
The people also took notice of the attempts to pacify the local government area with the offer of the position of Speaker to Monday Boluo Obolo by Dickson. However, knowing that Obolo would need to vacate the position once Diri is sworn-in if he is elected governor made the position of speaker for five months unattractive. The argument was that Southern Ijaw had the Speakership for seven years from 2012 to 2019, so going for the governorship position was more beneficial. The loss of PDP was the gain of APC. David Lyon as governorship candidate of APC from Olugbobiri in Southern Ijaw was adopted by political leaders across party divides and the result was the victory APC ran away with. Dickson and Diri have questioned the votes from Southern Ijaw but for close observers, PDP political leaders mobilised the people against what they have constantly referred to as “Federal Might” in 2015 and in 2019, they could not galvanise support as the people with sights on Lyon as governor of the state saw them as enemies out to frustrate the emergence of a Southern Ijaw man as governor.
Jonathan factor
Dickson has consistently denied any rift existed between himself and Jonathan. But it is a well known fact Jonathan’s political associates led by King Amatele Jonny Turner have turned their back on Dickson. It is also common knowledge that the wife of the former President, Mrs Patience Jonathan wants Dickson and his political team uprooted from Bayelsa State over irreconcilable differences. The existing tension between the Jonathans and Dickson was further made pronounced during the PDP governorship primary election where Jonathan backed Ndutimi Alaibe and Dickson backed Diri. Though Dickson had lamented the continued framing of the governorship primary election as a contest between himself and Jonathan, the reality was that Jonathan did not take the loss of Alaibe kindly particularly taking into consideration the “ procedural flaws “ which Alaibe had pointed out. Not only did Jonathan refuse to congratulate Diri, he also shunned the stakeholders meeting to pick Diri’s running mate. When news filtered out that the Minister of State for Petroluem, Chief Timipre Sylva took Lyon to Jonathan to seek his blessings, it sent a strong signal that things were going awry for the party especially in Ogbia. The absence of Jonathan at the governorship rallies of the PDP, the flag-off of APC rally in Ogbia land with all the traditional rulers from Ogbia in attendance, the refusal of the socio-cultural group, Ogbia brotherhood to receive Diri as PDP governorship candidate, the open support the acting paramount ruler of Jonathan’s community Otuoke gave to Lyon and the defections suffered by PDP in Ogbia were the tell tale signs that PDP would have it tough in Ogbia land. Dickson as an experienced politician knew he had to save the situation and indeed he tried through some PDP governors meeting Jonathan to extract support for Diri and the governor’s surprise visit to King Turner which was all over the internet. But then it was too late. The final sign that it was finished for PDP in Ogbia was the absence of Jonathan at the grand finale rally of the PDP when the party leaders believed they had convinced him to attend. By the eve of the governorship elections, the major political stakeholders of Ogbia had mobilized their people back to the communities with the mission to punish PDP for the state of underdevelopment in Ogbia and what they considered as the continued slight of their son, Jonathan in the hands of PDP leaders in the state. Macaulay Jokori who captured the voting pattern of Ogbia interpreted it as a battle between Dickson and Ogbia people. Hear him “He called us to battle field by his actions, deeds and utterances. Ogbia brotherhood represents the daring spirit of the Ogbia Kingdom. Last Saturday was no ordinary elections in Ogbialand and Bayelsa State. A revolution of the ballot and true to type, no blood was drawn across the land yet the tempest was roundly tamed. It was a contest to determine the true meaning of the brotherhood”.
Bayelsa Minorities
Since 1999, there have been a brewing politics of the minorities in Bayelsa. Taking into cognizance their numbers, the people of Epie/ Atissa, Ogbia and Nembe covering four local government areas, Yenagoa, Ogbia, Nembe and Brass have always been suspicious of the politics of the majority being played in the state. While they have also had their own fair share of political power in the state, they made a very strong argument to be considered in the next political dispensation on the platform of the PDP. However, the decision of Diri to pick Lawrence Ewrujakpor from Sagbama, Dickson’s local government area left much to be desired for the minorities of Ogbia and Nembe. After all entreaties to pick a running mate from Ogbia including an appeal from Jonathan failed, they felt they had no stake in the PDP and allowed APC a free reign on their land. The truth of the matter was that on the Election Day, Dickson’s foot soldiers were only outnumbered by the opposition because the people had pitched tent elsewhere. The electorate had grown to have a deep animosity for the PDP and they showed it by rejecting money to cast protest votes against the party. This coupled with the fact that Sylva from Brass and the APC deputy-governorship candidate, Senator Biobarakuma Degi- Eremienyo from Nembe also paved the way for the victory of APC.
Closely related to this was the issue of the Deputy- Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah who contested and lost the PDP governorship primary election. The people of Nembe- Ogbolomabiri felt his loss as a humiliation of their son and turned their back against the PDP. For the first time, the people of Nembe- Ogbolomabiri that do not see eye-ball to eye-ball with their neighbours, Nembe- Bassambiri on political issues closed ranks and decided to punish the PDP. The defection of Gabriel Jonah and his Otita Force to APC was the last political straw that broke the camel’s back and the PDP was left prostrate.
PDP fights back
The PDP believes a ‘coup’ has been executed against it in Bayelsa and it is determined to fight back. Aware that it has been outsmarted in the battle of the ballot attention would shift to the Courts where the PDP had already laid ambush for the APC if not for the Court of Appeal decisions that removed the barrier that would have prevented the APC from fielding a candidate. Diri has provided claims from the PDP situation room that he and the party won the election. Dickson has also argued that what happened on Saturday, November 16 was not an election. “What has happened in Bayelsa is one of the most brazen acts of distortion and rape of our democracy. What took place was not a democratic election. It was a military coup. It was the height of conspiracy by the Federal Government and security agencies to subvert the democratic rights of our people for the sole purpose of foisting the APC on the people. It has never been like this before. In 2015, it wasn’t as bad as this. In this case, not only was the Army directed to take over our place, but to collude with the APC thugs to unleash terror on our people.”
How the story of the Bayelsa governorship election would end in Court is still yet to be seen. But one glaring fact is that the PDP toyed with its unity and it paid for it on Saturday, November 16. The question now of whether it would be able to recover and retrace its steps depend on the verdict of the Courts on the Bayelsa governorship election.
