Like the Biblical Promised Land, the Bayelsa Story Changes Overnight
The balance of power in Bayelsa has shifted yet again after the Supreme Court Judgment invalidating the qualification of the APC governor-elect, David Lyon, in last November’s Bayelsa governorship poll, writes Emmanuel Addeh
On Thursday, Nigeria’s Apex Court unanimously held that Mr. David Lyon and his deputy, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo were not qualified ab initio to be declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as governorelect of Bayelsa and deputy respectively. It effectively changed the Bayelsa political trajectory overnight and automatically rejigged the short-lived existing power equation in the state in which the trio of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Timipre Sylva and Timi Alaibe as well as a handful of others would have re-emerged the new power brokers.
The court judgment, also, literally raised from the dead, the seeming impending political sabbatical of the former governor, Seriake Dickson, whose alleged ambition to control all the levers of power in the state without consideration for the other elitist politicians and leaders led to the defeat of his party in the first place.
It appeared the erstwhile governor was finished politically. He had been somewhat alienated by his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the same reason that he wasn’t amenable to taking advice or directives in some cases.
His fellow governors, quite a number of them, including the very vocal Governor Nyesom Wike of neighbouring Rivers State, were also not in good terms with him.
This discordance with his colleagues was palpable in no less an event than the official election (selection) of Dickson’s successor as the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, last month.
In a dramatic event in Abuja while his term hadn’t expired, his colleague governors simply went behind him to conduct the election of his successor in which the person handing over was absent. It wasn’t only disrespectful; it was a sign that all wasn’t well with the party. Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, emerged his successor during that event.
Back to the politics of Bayelsa, all the signs were there that Jonathan, Alaibe and a host of other disgruntled leaders were angry with Dickson. In Ogbia, where Jonathan hails from, the APC routed Dickson’s PDP during the poll.
Dickson’s strongmen in the area were either rounded up on the day of the election or put in one form of detention or the other, effectively rendering them ineffective.
A day later, the winner of that election, Lyon was in Jonathan’s house with his godfather and former President’s erstwhile political enemy, Timipre Sylva, ostensibly to thank him for the role he played during the poll.
Soon after, the full APC team was at the former President’s abode as early as 8am to join him in marking his birthday. Not many had any doubts that indeed, just like his mother, who had earlier endorsed the APC candidate then, the former Nigerian leader had given his nod to APC’s Lyon in the run-up to the poll.
As for Alaibe, who is from the same local government with Diri, who was sworn in in Friday as the fifth governor of Bayelsa, it was obvious that his supporters had massively voted the APC candidate. The APC got more than half of the votes, garnering 8,934 to the PDP candidate’s 15, 360.
In his usual manner, the ex-President allowed his body language to speak for him. In a statement by the Chairman, Chief Benson Odoko, the PDP Elders Forum accused Jonathan of using the Bayelsa poll to negotiate with President Muhammadu Buhari, saying Jonathan kept his distance from the PDP and its members throughout the period of the campaigns leading to the election.
“The forum was shocked when Jonathan and his wife donated the Aridolf Hotel to the APC as the operational contact point for visiting dignitaries of the party and as the venue for the party’s controversial primaries.
“These actions of Jonathan clearly portray him as a betrayer of the PDP, which gave him the platform to occupy the highest positions in the country, Bayelsa State, and millions of the PDP members just to protect his selfish interest.” He said.
Though clearly partisan, Odoko was probably right about the Aridolf issue. Many APC stalwarts were lodged there while the final result was announced at the same hotel owned by the wife of the President, Patience. Was the hotel only doing business? Perhaps!
Dissociating Jonathan and his family, who felt ignored by Dickson from Lyon’s short-lived victory would be an uphill talk. The justification for their action and decision to teach Dickson a lesson, as it were, is also in the public sphere. Dickson had allegedly declined to incorporate their views and input in the build-up to the poll.
In the meantime, Thursday’s judgment came as a shock to the APC and the governor-in-waiting, Lyon, whose qualification for the election was invalidated by the Supreme Court.