There is palpable tension in the oil-rich city of Bayelsa ahead of today’s governorship election.
Over the years, the state has recorded cases of armed thugs perpetrating violence during elections, especially in Nembe Local Government Area and to a lesser extent, in Brass, Ekeremor, and Southern Ijaw areas of the state.
The heavy security presence in the state is indescribable. Bayelsa is like a state under siege, with gun-toting security operatives everywhere you turn.
This has generated fear and apprehension among the people. Public affairs analysts are of the view that the heavy presence of security operatives could be counterproductive, as it could scare away voters on election day.
There are also recent developments that can heighten apprehension among the people of the state. On Tuesday, November 7, suspected political thugs reportedly attacked the residence of a former APC chieftain, now a member of the PDP, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, in the Kpansia area of Yenagoa.
DAILY POST gathered that the thugs threw explosives, believed to be dynamite, into the compound around 1:00 a.m. Parts of the house were destroyed, but fortunately, no one was injured. In another development, two persons were said to have sustained gunshot wounds around the Opolo axis of Yenagoa.
On Thursday, November 9, 2023, hundreds of protesting women clad in all-black stormed the state police command, calling for the redeployment of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tolani Alausa. They said they wanted a peaceful election, alleging that the CP has been compromised. A Deputy Inspector General of Police, on election duty in the state, addressed them, and they dispersed.
The next day, November 10, placard-carrying women returned to continue from where they left off the previous day. Police operatives used tear gas to disperse them, but they stood their ground. While the protesters were at the police headquarters, another group of protesters, predominantly men, arrived at the scene, calling for the retention of Alausa.
In another development, the PDP Chairman of Brass Local Government Area, Bara Daniel, was injured on Friday, November 10, at Twon, headquarters of Brass, following a misunderstanding between APC and PDP supporters while election materials were being offloaded at the jetty for onward movement to the hinterlands.
In this tense atmosphere, candidates from 16 political parties, 14 males and two females, will be contesting for the governorship position of the state.
In spite of the congested field of political gladiators, three candidates stand out. They include the incumbent governor, Senator Douye Diri, who is flying the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former governor, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the young engineer, Udengs Eradiri, candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
While the din from the campaigns of the PDP and APC was deafening, not much was heard from the other parties, making one feel there are only two political parties contesting the governorship election in the state. The Labour Party candidate, however, was very vociferous while visiting communities and stakeholders of the state. He often mentioned that he stood a better chance to turn the fortune of the state.
Before ascending the saddle as governor of Bayelsa State on February 14, 2020, through a courtroom miracle, Douye Diri served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the immediate past governor, Senator Seriake Dickson. A year later, he was appointed as Principal Executive Secretary to the governor, a position he held until 2014 when he contested and won election as a member of the House of Representatives. With the support of Senator Dickson, Diri became a Senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District.
Ahead of the November 16, 2019, governorship election in the state, Diri’s benefactor, Dickson, singled him out as the “anointed candidate” and made him the governor. The APC candidate, David Lyon, won the election, but on the eve of the swearing-in, the Supreme Court voided Lyon’s victory and announced Diri as the winner.
For the better part of his first year as governor, Diri was embroiled in one legal battle or another. Like the proverbial cat with nine lives, Diri survived over 12 different litigations until he was declared the winner. From his second year, Diri rolled up his sleeves and got down to the business of governance. He took on several uncompleted projects of his predecessor, including the multi-billion Naira 42km Sagbama/Ekeremor road, as well as the Yenagoa/Oporoma/Ukubie road. He then initiated the N54 billion Nembe/Brass road, where work is progressing steadily.
Some other completed projects include the 4.5km Igbedi road, the 10.2km dual carriageway Glory Drive/Tombia road, and the New Yenagoa City link bridge. He also built the iconic Ernest Ikoli Media Complex, Finance House, the Justice Koripamo Ungbuku High Court complex, the remodeling and completion of the Judges Quarters at Opolo, as well as the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Boro town. Governor Diri is also credited with the establishment of some new secondary schools, including science and technical colleges in all the local government areas of the state. He has also left his imprint in the health and security sectors, as well as the transport sector, where he bought over a hundred buses and taxis to revamp the transportation sector. The governor’s success story in the area of skills acquisition is unbeatable.
Chief Timipre Sylva, the APC candidate, was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and later Special Adviser on Political Matters under the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyesiegha. He was also a special assistant to the then Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Edmund Daukoru, from 2004 to 2007. He was governor of Bayelsa from May 2008 to January 27, 2012.
As governor of Bayelsa, Sylva completed the state judiciary complex and Government House Phase II. He built the Transparency Plaza, Modern UBE Schools across communities, 52 access roads in Yenagoa, new House of Assembly Estate, and new commissioners’ quarters before completing and furnishing the multi-billion-naira Glory Land Castle. He built and furnished the Nigerian Law School in Yenagoa. He also bought taxis to improve transportation in Yenagoa metropolis.
Udengs Eradiri, the 47-year-old Labour Party candidate, is a graduate of production engineering from the University of Benin. While Diri and Sylva have experience behind them, part of Eradiri’s claims to the governorship position in terms of experience is the fact that he held several student union positions at the University of Benin. He is a former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and later Commissioner for Environment under ex-Governor Dickson, and also served under President Buhari at the NDDC.
Opinion polls indicate that of the three frontline candidates, incumbent governor Douye Diri stands the best chance of emerging as governor. The LP candidate is a neophyte, and his followership is drawn mainly from the youths. Most Nigerian youths do their campaigns on social media, but on election day, they are nowhere to be found because they can’t be bothered. The situation is no different in Bayelsa, and this might be a serious setback to Eradiri. Secondly, his party is in disarray. The state chairman of his party and a few EXCO members endorsed Governor Diri after allegedly collecting N100 million. While another faction adopted Sylva as their candidate.
This has left Eradiri stranded like a fish out of water; he is looking like a political orphan. His greatest undoing will be finance; he does not have the financial muscle to stand against an incumbent governor and a former petroleum resources minister in a political battle.
Sylva may have done his best while serving as governor, but some events of the past may jeopardise his plans of becoming the next Governor of Bayelsa. He is from Brass Local Government Area, entirely riverine, and East Senatorial District of the state. The zoning arrangement may jeopardise his chances, as the Central Senatorial District, where the incumbent Governor is from, was yet to complete its 8-year turn.
When he was governor, there was a clamour for a road to Brass. Sylva’s response was a bit tactless. He said such a road was not economically viable, a statement which will cost him some votes, even among his own people, because today Diri is building that road.
When former governor Dickson was building the state international airport, Sylva criticized the project, saying that an airport was not the main problem of Bayelsans, that it was not a priority project. Meanwhile, he attempted an airport project himself but abandoned it after sand-filling the site. Today the international airport has been completed, and he has had cause to use it. Again, Sylva was caught on tape, in an interview, declaring that he would not contest for governor of Bayelsa State again. He said that phase of his life was over. Today, the same man is seeking the people’s mandate to be governor.
When he was reminded about what he said about not contesting for governor again, he offered a tame excuse. He said he was being compelled to contest because of the poor manner in which Diri was ruling the state. According to him, “I feel the government of the day is not doing well. There is no clear pathway that I can see to progress and development. Where is the current administration in Bayelsa taking us to?
“They talk about prosperity. There is nothing prosperous about the situation in Bayelsa. Look at Yenagoa, does it look like a state capital? We think that it is time for us to come in and bring everything together. There are dots everywhere that we need to connect to be able to create a pathway for a sustainable future for Bayelsans. That’s really what we are going to do.”
Everywhere Governor Diri went during his campaigns, he never failed to bring up this matter, telling Bayelsans that Sylva was a liar who should not be entrusted with the leadership of the state. Some others have been asking: what is it that Sylva forgot in Creek Haven, the Bayelsa State seat of power? Like a rhetorical question, nobody has been able to provide an answer to the question.
Another factor that will militate against Sylva is the division within the rank and file of the APC in the state. Throughout his campaigns to communities across the eight LGAs in the state, the current Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the winner of the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, David Lyon, immediate past House of Representatives member for Southern Ijaw, Preye Oseke, and many others never appeared or even said a word about supporting their flag bearer in the forthcoming election.
Yet another problem is the gale of defections from the APC to the ruling PDP. People have been crossing from the APC to the PDP and vice versa, but the APC is the bigger loser, considering the caliber of persons they have lost to the PDP. Some APC members who have joined the PDP include Felix Oboro, a former Senator, former Secretary to the State Government, and former Ambassador to Brazil; Ebikitin Diongoli, a former sports commissioner in the state; Warman Ogoriba, Henry Ofongo; Sodaguo Festus-Omoni, Bolous Indiamaowei, and Graham Ipigansi, all former Members of the House of Representatives. Also included is a former Speaker of the State House of Assembly and former acting governor of the state, Werinepre Seibarugu. All these erstwhile APC chieftains are now rooting for incumbent Governor Douye Diri.
As if all of these are not enough, the respected foremost Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has told Sylva in an open letter that the Ijaws are against him because he resorted to violence while seeking office as governor in the past. Clark also accused Sylva of working against the interest of the Niger Delta while he was the Minister of State of Petroleum Resources by imposing an “oppressive 3%” equity stake for oil and gas-producing communities in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) despite protests from stakeholders. In addition, the people of Bayelsa are not happy with Sylva that the state did not benefit from his tenure as Petroleum Minister. To rub salt on the injury of the state, Bayelsa had its OML 46, the Atala oil field, revoked while Sylva was minister. All of these will count against Sylva at the poll.
Governor Douye Diri, on the other hand, seems to have everything going for him. He has the incumbency factor in his favor. It is not impossible but unseating an incumbent in Nigerian politics is like squeezing water out of stone. Secondly, PDP in the state is intact, devoid of any problems. Also, the governor has worked hard to keep his campaign promises. He promised to continue the uncompleted projects of his predecessor and has kept to his promise. The governor is doing a lot of things a few days before the election, ostensibly to score some political points. In the face of acute unemployment, he approved the recruitment of over 2,000 teachers a few weeks ago. He has also approved the payment of salary arrears to workers. Over 800 members of staff of the state-owned Niger Delta University who lost their jobs under Seriake Dickson and have been in court since have been given back their jobs.
He is executing quick-win projects like the construction of concrete access roads and is also lighting up the streets with solar-paneled lights. And as he was going around campaigning, he was commissioning projects and performing groundbreaking ceremonies for new ones. He also recently doled out palliatives to the people of the state.
Governor Diri’s achievements and the peace he preaches are campaigning for him.
He is popular, enjoys widespread acceptance and has been receiving endorsements from left, right, and centre. All things being equal, Governor Douye Diri may be reelected for the second time as the governor of Bayelsa State.
Diri’s governance, Sylva’s past, Eradiri’s ambitions define Bayelsa guber election
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