From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
With the 2023 general election fast approaching, all is not smooth in the two major political parties, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State. Also the two emerging parties in the state, Labour Party (LP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) are not left out as they have their own internal contradictions over attempts by stalwarts to consolidate the grip on party structures.
Gladiators within the four parties out to protect vested interests are plotting, scheming, writing and rewriting political scripts that are shaping the politics of the state.
PDP
As the dominant and the ruling party in the state, the PDP remains the party to beat. Because it has been ruling since 1999, PDP remains the only party with membership across the 105 wards in the state. Since it is the party in power, its ability to dispense political patronage has also made its support base to swell.
However, the fallout of the PDP primary and handling of its outcome has been a major drawback for the party. This coupled with the widening crack between erstwhile loyalists of former governor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson and those who have switched allegiance to Governor Douye Diri is a source of worry for the party.
Even though Dickson had reiterated his support for the PDP and the governor culminating in his appointment as Chairman of the Bayelsa PDP Presidential Campaign Council, majority of his foot soldiers are not in tune with the party owing to what they described as systematic victimization.
The pending litigation between Senator Moses Cleopas and Friday Konbowei Benson over Bayelsa Central Senatorial PDP ticket, Jonathan Obuebite and Maria Ebikake over Nembe/ Brass PDP Federal Constituency ticket and Ebinyu Turner and Mietama Obordor over the Ogbia PDP Federal Constituency ticket is a minus for the party as it goes into the election. It is clear as day that eventual losers in the litigation process will work against the success of the party in the election. Political pundits are of the view that the inability of the party hierarchy and Governor Diri to resolve grievances over the outcome of the party primaries is absurd. More baffling is the fact that the Senator Inatimi Rufus Spiff Reconciliation Committee set up to appease aggrieved party members is in deep slumber over its reconciliation assignment.
Recently, based on the Federal High Court ruling which nullified the Ogbia federal constituency primaries, the party leadership which had earlier backed Turner as the candidate elected in the first primary election held in a volte-face, decided to abandon Turner’ s mandate and conducted fresh primaries which Turner stayed away from.
PDP publicity secretary, Ebiye Ogoli defended the position of the party on the conduct of a fresh primaries: “In compliance with the ruling of the Tribunal, the party requested for all its aspirants that took part in the previous exercise to come forward to participate in the rescheduled exercise. However, out of the four aspirants that participated in the previous exercise, only two persons, namely, Hon. Fred Obua, member, House of Representatives and Hon. Chief Mitema Obordor indicated interest to re-contest the primaries, whilst Ebinyu M. Turner, winner of the last exercise declined participation as well as the fourth aspirant, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson who has left having become a candidate for the same elections under the Social Democratic Party (SDP).”
Investigation revealed that Turner, who believes the support for Obordor is the voice of Jacob and hand of Esau has appealed the ruling of the Federal High Court, vowing to dare the powers that be in the party and government, and go the whole hog to reclaim his ticket.
The disposition of Turner to PDP activities in the area with the recent appointment of an APC chieftain, Chief Samuel Ogbuku as the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) makes the PDP walk on a tightrope for the PDP Ogbia Federal Constituency elections and even the Bayelsa East Senatorial district election. Ogbuku’s appointment is a political masterstroke that has further compounded the worries of PDP in Bayelsa East.
In addition, the political feud between Dickson and Hon Fred Agbedi, member representing Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency could also cost PDP a total victory in Bayelsa West. Dickson and Agbedi’s erstwhile political associates became estranged after the latter attempted to truncate Dickson’s political journey in the Senate.
Unfortunately, the failure of Governor Diri and other political leaders in PDP to reconcile the duo is going to cost the party dearly. Bayelsa West is the stronghold of the PDP because of Dickson; the PDP is treading a lonely path to defeat in the Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency if Dickson is not on the campaign trail of Agbedi.
APC
Contrary to what the party would want the people to believe, all is still not well with the main opposition party in the state. Former governor and Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva remains the leader of the party, but this has not discouraged other political gladiators from attempting to challenge his authority on how the party is being run in the state.
According to political observers, Sylva as the leader of the party has been reaching out to other major stakeholders in the party so as to forge a united front in advancing the interest of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other candidates in the 2023 election.
During a meeting with stakeholders in Yenagoa, which had in attendance the national Vice- Chairman, South- South, Chief Victor Giadom, Sylva had sued for peace among stakeholders and implored unity before the 2023 elections.
He had said during the occasion: “The APC is one big family. So much has happened. During the primaries, not everybody would emerge. So people emerged and we recognised that there are some aggrieved members of the party. So this gathering allows us to reconcile and to ensure that we are able to go into the next election as a unified party. I want to assure you that we have actually been able to unify the party. A lot of contending parties were there and we have been able to reconcile a lot of them.”
Also at a follow-up meeting held in Abuja shortly before the APC Presidential rally in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Sylva had met with the governor-elect on the platform of the party in the Bayelsa 2019 governorship election, Chief David Lyon over efforts to consolidate on the unity of the party. Speaking at the event, Sylva had noted that the meeting was evidence that leaders of the party in the state were on the same page to work for the APC. The huge turn-out of Bayelsans at the Presidential rally held at the Ox- Bow Lake Pavilion was a testament on how on-going reconciliation if pursued with sincerity and open mind can help the party.
Sylva’s efforts to bring the party leaders together notwithstanding, the cracks in the party are still visible. David Lyon who had supported Rotimi Amaechi during the primaries is now working hard in cahoots with a former governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Ebitimi Amagbare and his loyalists to establish their group and gain recognition from Tinubu.
On another hand is former Minister of State, Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri who is still at loggerheads with Sylva over the running of the party. A source close to Lokpobiri stated that the former Minister was not invited to the Abuja meeting.
Though Lokpobiri who supported Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo during the primaries attended the Presidential rally, findings indicated that Lokpobiri is going to chart his own path to deliver Bayelsa West without recourse to Sylva. Banking on his relationship with the national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the factional secretariat, Lokpobiri endorsed during the political stand-off with Sylva is wearing a new look with the picture of Tinubu, Shettima, Adamu and Lokpobiri on the signpost different from the others in the state which had the picture of Sylva as the leader of the party. This is an indication that Lokpobiri is not ready to shy away from his agitation on changing the way the APC is being run in Bayelsa State.
Also in the mix is Preye Aganaba, a political protégé of Amaechi, who supported Osinbajo during the primaries but now leads Tinubu’s Independent Campaign Council (ICC) in Bayelsa. In a veiled reference that tends to push Sylva’s role as Bayelsa coordinator to the background, Aganaba said the role of the ICC is to galvanise support for Tinubu’s in the absence of a governorship candidate for the party.
“For a state like Bayelsa where there is no governorship candidate, it also enhances the chances of the candidate because our job is to galvanise support that will be absent where there is no governorship candidate,” he said.
The different groups in APC in a bid to outdo one another to gain political capital are likely to score own goals through poor coordination and apparent sabotage which in the long run could mar the chances of the party.
Labour Party
Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Ndutimi Alaibe popularised the Labour Party in Bayelsa State in 2010 when he dumped the PDP and emerged the governorship candidate of the LP. Since then, politicians denied space in PDP, opted for the LP as another opposition platform aside the then ACN.
However, the emergence of Peter Obi as LP presidential candidate and the subsequent birth of the Obi movement has changed the political equation such that there is a sizeable number of residents in Bayelsa rooting for Ob’s presidential ambition.
Curiously, the support for Obi has not been able to lift candidates of the party contesting other elections. More intriguing is that politicians in the party are charting a course differently from that of the coordinator of the Obi Presidential campaign, Mr Morris Alagoa, whom they regarded as not a member of the party.
Alagoa , an environmental and human rights activist was picked as the state coordinator against all odds, especially from politicians who felt the position should go to one of them. Since then, the politicians in the party have been sabotaging the Obi campaign in Bayelsa.
So far, Alagoa has been at the forefront of the Obi campaign to residents of the state without support from professional politicians who are hell-bent in frustrating the campaigns of Obi since they are not in charge.
Alagoa in a chat while stating that he believes the party has crossed the stage of opposition against his appointment insisted that he is not desperate to be the state coordinator and said he never knew how he was appointed.
“In the first place, I am not a member of the Labour Party. And, during the inauguration in Abuja, the National Chairman of the party stated clearly that you don’t have to be a member of the Labour Party to be appointed, as those nominated were carefully selected. Besides, the Obi/Datti presidential thing is a movement, the Obi Movement”
At the pace the party is going, its electoral chances dims by the day due to internal wrangling orchestrated by professional politicians who are jostling to be in charge of the campaigns.
SDP
SDP became popular in the state owing to several chieftains of the PDP leaving the party after several complaints of maltreatment which were not addressed. All the politicians that defected to SDP have one thing in common- associates of former governor Dickson.
Although Dickson has repeatedly disassociated himself from propping up candidates in the SDP, the denials have not made people to believe SDP which has candidates in at least 26 Federal constituency and state assembly seats, does not have the backing of a consummate politician pulling the strings.
The Chairman of the party in the state, Alex Amadein in an interview also denied links with Dickson, maintaining that the party is firmly rooted and does not need Dickson to win elections.
“The SDP is firmly rooted in the state. We have 26 candidates contesting the election. We don’t need the support of a former governor to win. By January 10, 2023, we are going to officially flag-off our campaigns and hand over flags to candidates of the party. Our party have politicians deeply rooted in the grassroots”
The implication of SDP candidates contesting the elections is bad news for PDP. While some of them may not be popular enough to win elections, they can play a spoiler role by eating from the votes of the PDP and ultimately crash the dreams of PDP winning the elections.