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After he was declared Governor by the Supreme Court in February 2020, Senator Douye Diri spoke in the sort of soaring phrases usually heard from a pulpit on Sundays, transcending religious, ethnic and party lines. The ideas he expressed were familiar and uplifting. His delivery was stunning. He was poised, thoughtful, eloquent, and as always, intellectually minded. The atmosphere that day was rarefied when he fielded questions from a battery of journalists in Abuja who wanted to know what the Supreme Court verdict meant to him. “I am a miracle Governor, poised to do miracles in Bayelsa”. It was not for nothing. No politician who went through the kind of travails that Diri did during the 2019 election, with the arsenals of the federal might arrayed against him, and he prevailed despite the odds who wouldn’t describe his triumph as miraculous. It was like being in a wilderness, walking through a tortuous and winding road.
Reliving what he was up against in 2019, he sounded like a Pentecostal pastor. He said, “God has disappointed the enemies of Bayelsa who wanted to use extraneous forces to snatch the State by force for their pecuniary gains”. God, he pointedly said, should take the glory. As a result, he has given assurance that he is more determined now to better the fortunes of the state and the people by taking concrete steps to reposition the state, and create opportunities for the citizens to excel and realise their potential. Focus is on massive infrastructure development, growing a vibrant economy, away from the humdrum of civil service, to an agricultural and business-driven economy that will create wealth for the citizens, and transform Bayelsa into an Industrial base, where the state will no longer depend on monthly handouts from Abuja.
Another consequential election is about six weeks away, exactly on November 11. As is often the case, every election is different from the previous ones. Each election comes with its peculiar cadence and rhythm, a sparkle that will set it apart. Make no mistakes about it, the forthcoming governorship poll may be like no other before it. But Gov Diri has given an assurance other candidates should emulate. “I won’t spill blood to retain my seat”, he told stakeholders at Ogbolomabiri recently after assessing the security situation in neighbouring Bassabiri in Nembe Local Government Area of the State. Gov Diri is not one of your usual sit-in-the-pant politician. He doesn’t have that paranoid style that most of our politicians have that makes them see politics as ‘do-or- die affair’.
There is no nervous energy about him. Neither does he suffer the affliction of hysteria that leads some politicians to resort to violence to win at all cost. He is optimistic of victory. He believes his accomplishments in his first tenure will speak volumes for him. He is also of the view that conventional wisdom demands that success in politics depends largely on the results a political office holder is able to deliver. In practical terms, this means that performance is a key factor that can infuse any elected leader with genuine sense of self-confidence to seek a renewal of his mandate, provided voters are allowed to choose wisely. After all, democracy ought to ensure that the people have the necessary dividends. Elections must offer valid choices.
For Diri, success has a pattern. You can glean it from the vision that a leader has for his people, and his state. That’s why no true leader can lead successfully without first acquiring power. But no leader can be great who does not know how to use the power so acquired for greater purposes that will benefit his people. However, without a vision beyond his own advancement, a leader is likely to be paralysed immediately the goal has been achieved. A visit to the Bayelsa state shows an administration that has prioritized security, infrastructure development, and an enabling environment that will sustain business enterprises. To a great extent, the state capital, Yenagoa, has been transformed from a modern village, into an Industrial City, where investment can thrive. “I am here for development, not to deceive people”, he told the Nigerian Guild of Editors(NGE), the highest professional body of Editors that visited the state, recently. He says he’s aware that the primary purpose of government is to secure lives and property. The prevailing situation in some states where banditry and kidnapping have become commonplace, is an abandonment of that responsibility.
At the moment, Bayelsa has become a massive construction site, with quality roads that connect the three senatorial zones. In the last three years , over 50 internal roads, with solar system have been constructed, some already commissioned. The latest of such high quality road is the phase 2, 10.2km Glory Drive dual Carriageway that was commissioned recently by the Sultan of Sokoto, his Eminence, Sa’ad Abubakar III. The royal father said he was proud to be associated with the success story of the governor. He told the governor, “God has put you in this position to serve your people. Always see yourself as their servant”, stressing that as leaders, Nigerian politicians should work together to better the lot of the people. The Glory- Drive road, stretches from Igbogene through several communities and terminates at Onopa in the Yenagoa City Centre. The cost is put at N30bn, and the contractor is China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). It was conceptualised by former President Goodluck Jonathan when he was Governor of the state. The road measures 7.3 metres in width, with 2-metre shoulder on each drive way. It also has 4 metres wide median, a walkaway of 1.4 metres on either side, a major roundabout and 12 culverts.
According to the commissioner of Works, Mr Moses Teibowei, the road was started by the past administration of Chief Timipre Sylva but was abandoned after a payment of N9bn was paid to the contractor, Fak Engineering Limited. Meanwhile, governor Diri has approved the commencement of Phase 3 of the dual Carriageway. Three of the key ongoing projects include the N54bn Nembe/Brass road, the Yenagoa-Southern Ijaw road, and Ekeremo/Sagbama road that has been completed. Behind all of this lies economic strategy, their immense commercial value. For instance, the Ekeremo/ Sagbama road has a deep seaport at Agae that will facilitate the movement of goods and services.
The Nembe/ Brass road holds great significance as well. It has been fittingly described as as the “saviour of the communities” living in that Eastern senatorial zone. It involves the construction of ten bridges. Until now, the road was abandoned for 70 years without any government attention, yet this areas is the treasury basket of the economy. As former governor of the state in 2008, Chief Sylva allegedly said that the road was not commercially viable. But Gov Diri has debunked that, and said, contrary to that notion, the road when completed, will add economic value to Nigeria’s Blue Economy, in addition to being a catalyst for development, tourism and creating job opportunities for the many unemployed in the state, as well as curb militancy and youth restiveness.
Beyond road infrastructure, a quiet revolution of some sort is taking place in human capital development of the state, with emphasis on technical Education, entrepreneurship. Civil servants and pensioners say they now receive prompt payment of their salaries and gratuities.
Here, Gov Diri has shown his other side: ambitious, disciplined, caring, and willingness to focus on issues that matter for the now, and the future. Emphasis on technical/Science education in all the 8 local councils of the state is a remarkable paradigm shift in the education sector that will lead to self-employment. More importantly, is the government’s entrepreneurship programme for small and medium enterprises.
Under the scheme, at least four beneficiaries from 105 wards in the state receive a stipend of N200,000 each every month to help grow their businesses. All of this is part of a deliberate effort to create a New Bayelsa and reduce the incidence of cultism among youths and curtail insecurity. As the Governor Diri puts it, “we cannot go back to Egypt where Sylva left left the state with insecurity squeezing everyone to a corner”. The good news is that, Tombia, a community that used to be the den of criminals, has turned into a peaceful place as the criminals have been dislodged. Altogether, any unbiased visitor to Bayelsa will bear witness to amazing infrastructure development. The signs of city upgrade is virtually everywhere.
It reflects the vision of a forward -looking man, his plans for his state and his people. State-of-art equipment at Chief Ernest Ikoli Media Complex in the state capital is something every media professional will be proud of. If you are not media-friendly, perhaps you will be ‘awed’ by the drone technology designed for the delivery of healthcare facilities to different parts of the state-owned hospitals and clinics. It’s perhaps the first of its kind in the country. The Governor’s opponents may try, (as they will) to blame anything that’s not working, on him, but one thing is certain: Douye Diri is quiet but working. And his opponents in the November 11 Governorship Poll, will be up against a star.
