PDP, zoning and Bayelsa governorship race
Bayelsa State is on the verge of witnessing the most exciting governorship election in its history going by the array of aspirants jostling for their parties’ candidature and the interest that has been awakened in the electorate.
However, some parts of the state are saying that the governorship position should be zoned when stakeholders had never at any time sat down to discuss or adopt any zoning formula since its creation, writes Samuel Ese in Yenagoa.
In a few weeks, various political parties would be conducting their primary elections to elect their candidates for the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa State in line with the directives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
As at now, 24 aspirants have purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) while two others are lining up under the All Progressives Congress (APC): the other political parties are quiet thus far.
Of the 24 aspirants under the PDP by local government area, Brass and Ogbia have one each, Kolokuma/opokuma has four, Ekeremor and Nembe have two each, Yenagoa has five, Southern Ijaw has nine and Sagbama none.
For the APC, the two aspirants are from Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw local government areas; however, as more political parties reveal the identities of their governorship aspirants, the distribution of aspirants per local government area may be different.
But, one issue that has come to the fore particularly within the PDP is that of zoning, which some stakeholders claim has been in existence in the state and has been used in the past to determine the emergence of governors of the state although there is no record to show that zoning was formally adopted at any time in the state.
Zoning of any political office is usually applied in a multi-interest situation to ensure inclusiveness, but while it has its positives, the negatives, some believe, outweigh the positives such as the fear of promoting mediocrity and unpopular candidates, among others.
Some stakeholders and experts argue that zoning would give all the three senatorial districts a sense of belonging in the Bayelsa Project, foster unity and help in advancing political development in the state.
Whatever the positives, zoning can actually deny some aspirants with the requisite governorship qualities the opportunity to aspire to Creek Haven and change the ugly narrative in the state by turning Bayelsa State to a realistic Dubai of Africa and Silicon Valley
of Nigeria as promised by some political leaders in the past.
For the records, Bayelsa State is made up of three senatorial districts of East, Central and West, and the first civilian governor of Bayelsa State, Late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was from Central Senatorial District while his successor, Goodluck Jonathan is from East Senatorial District.
Timipre Sylva, who succeeded Jonathan is also from East Senatorial District and the incumbent, Henry Seriake Dickson who took over from him is from West Senatorial District. So, the debate now is on which senatorial district or local government area should produce the next governor.
Bayelsa State is made up of eight local government areas of Brass, Nembe and Ogbia in East Senatorial District; Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa and Kolokuma/opokuma in Central Senatorial District; and, Sagbama and Ekeremor in West Senatorial District.
Of the eight local government areas, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Brass and Sagbama have produced governors in that order while Ekeremor, Kolokuma/opokuma, Nembe and Yenagoa are yet to produce governors and there is this strong argument by some stakeholders that the next governor should come from any of them.
Again, when looked at properly, any arrangement could suffice for zoning if it is actually an agreed determinant of where the next governor should emerge from. For instance, since West Senatorial District waited for 12 years before producing the governor, the next round of zoning could start from there as is done among traders and workers who contribute money to a common pool (osusu).
In the history of governorship elections in Bayelsa State from 1999 until now, every senatorial district has contested governorship elections without any regard to a zoning formula except in cases where party leaderships had prevailed on certain aspirants to step down.
In other elections such as Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly, zoning formula, if it exists, has been abused as some elected persons had refused to allow other local governments or constituencies produce their successors hence some lawmakers served two or three terms.
Even in this present race, there are aspirants who had contested before against others when East, Central and West senatorial districts produced governors, so it becomes difficult to convince stakeholders that zoning is an agreed formula for power rotation in Bayelsa State.
It is difficult for anyone to make claims about zoning especially in a multi-party system as stakeholders from all the political parties have never come together at any time to discuss zoning of the governorship. So why is the issue being promoted ahead of this governorship election?
Honestly, the PDP cannot arrogate the issue of zoning to itself as the dominant political party in the state as the other political parties are also major stakeholders in any discussion that centres around the zoning of the governorship position in the state.
Zoning is not a magic formula for development and in a state like Bayelsa that seems confounded by a myriad of challenges, it needs someone with competence coupled with determination, capacity and ability to turn the story around.
After nearly 23 years of statehood, not much has been attained in several sectors, which is a stark contrast to all the revenues that have accrued to the state over the years.
There is still no road to Brass, Koluama and Agge and even within Yenagoa, the capital, link roads are either non-existent or in state of disrepair, no industries exist anywhere, flooding is perennial, insecurity continues to mount and lip service is paid to agricultural development.
So much potential abounds, but nobody is thinking about how to harness the available potentials for growth and development hence despite the state’s unique position in power generation, outage is evident everywhere and joblessness casts a gloomy spectacle.
That is why those who argue in favour of zoning only have to look at the frightening statistics to realise that such an arrangement may not be the best for the state going forward especially with the kind of developmental challenges that seem insurmountable.
An honest evaluation of development projects across the state since 1999 shows that sometimes an entire senatorial district, local government area or community did not enjoy any important project while having a son as governor.
Frederick Agbedi, a governorship aspirant under the PDP, a former state chairman of the party, three-term member of the House of Representatives and a top notch politician gave BD Sunday a brief history of how all the past governors emerged and maintained that at no time did stakeholders discuss zoning of the governorship position.
Agbedi stated: “First, I think that you may not be right when you that people are talking about zoning formula and that it’s their turn. Whoever that says so does not know the political history of the state. And so, I’m passing this information or maybe ordinarily, people for the benefit of self-protection wanting to create an avenue to bring themselves or defend themselves with an argument that can put them in a vantage position and talk about the issue of zoning in Bayelsa.
“I emphasise that whoever that says so is saying so to get some comfort for himself in this governorship contest. Otherwise, for those of us who have been leaders in one guise or the other in the politics of this state coming from Rivers State know that we had never for once or at any time did zoning whether by way of omitting of a party or group or whatever in any guise and to sit by zoning governorship office to senatorial zone west or senatorial zone central or senatorial zone east.
“It has never happened in this state and that is why I keep telling that it is not true when you’re talking zoning in Bayelsa. There is no such issue. Anyone who is saying that it is zoned and it is our turn and all that, is not being factual and it amounts to wanting to present an argument that will give such people some comfort in this case.
“If we had not done zoning and the governorship election (position) has gone through the three senatorial districts, that is to say that every senatorial district has produced the governor of Bayelsa State. And so, where do we go from