The winning ticket at the PDP primaries might have been duly defeated at the elections but the way and manner in which this occurred has been widely condemned
It is not surprising that the incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State Senator Douye Diri recently read the riot act to his state’s politicians asking them to desist from the practice of challenging the legitimacy of the government with a multitude of petitions and court cases. It must, of course, be acknowledged that Diri’s own emergence was actually through the instrument of the Supreme Court’s nullification of the INEC approved result of the election.
This victory for the PDP ticket might actually have encouraged other aggrieved complainants to try to overturn the judgment in their favour. However, coming as the culmination of a long process of dysfunctional politicking in the small but volatile and economically important state the circumstances that exist in Bayelsa State should come as no surprise at all.
It must be remembered that the last governor Hon, Henry Seriake Dickson appeared to have seized the hierarchy of privilege in the PDP completely when he was in office and turned the contest for the governor into a race to gain support from him.
This led to the PDP having more than twenty aspirants vying for the ticket and eventually instead of the most popular aspirant emerging it was the one most likely to have the Governor’s support that won the day. This ticket was made up of the two sitting Senators Diri and Lawrence Ewudjakpo.
The winning ticket at the PDP primaries might have been duly defeated at the elections but the way and manner in which this occurred has been widely condemned because it was a victory clearly aided by the deployment of violence and a plethora of irregularities. The consequences of this outcome makes it clear that the political manipulations that have led to the installation of the incumbent administration is replete with dysfunctional elements of governance.
For example, while such legacies of the Dickson era like the Governor’s office complex can be pointed out as proof that HSD did provide some infrastructural growth it is a fact that he had a negative public profile especially with the civil servants and other ordinary citizens.
He earned the reputation of not paying public workers on time and even worse for withholding the entitlements of retirees. This latter failing earned him the undying hostility of many citizens due to the fact that some pensioners were said to have died while awaiting their delayed entitlements.
However, since Diri took office he has remedied this anomaly in the commitment to the welfare of the workers and ordinary citizens without actually making any noise about it. The release of arrears of payments to retirees and regular and timely payment of salaries and the regular payment of allocations as and when due to government appointees has earned Diri approval from the people of the state in spite of the uncertainty that the political situation has generated. The fact that Diri has made it a priority for his government to remedy the unfortunate legacy of his main supporter’s inability to fulfil official obligations has given him a hold on public support in the state.
This situation has become the central focus of those whose concern is the welfare of the people of the state, Governor Diri’s recent warning about the dangers of instability posed by the continuous challenges to his governance is a reflection of the true circumstance facing the state as a result of the fall-out of the dysfunctional political legacy left by previous administrations.
Diri’s major obligation as governor has turned out to be the restoration of public trust which is a task for which he is well prepared. The fact that he has had a long career in the politics of communal welfare matters was the primary justification that members of the camp of Dick- son supporters in the state gave as their reason for having supported the Diri/ Ewudjakpo ticket at the primaries.
However, the territorial imperative arising as a result of Diri being a scion of the Kolokuma; Opokuma LGA from which the most vocal and probably most popular challenger Timi Alaibe also came also played an important part in the selection of the PDP ticket.
Diri had once been a visible supporter of Alaibe’s ambition to become governor but this time around, Governor Dickson had made it patently clear that while he supported the right of the LGA to take the ticket he was personally set against Alaibe’s candidacy. Diri was therefore placed in the difficult position of having to choose between his own personal loyalties and the communal interest. He chose the latter by deciding to accommodate the governor’s choice in the interest of the party’s selective advantage at the primaries.
His eventual victory proved that his decision was right, and in spite of the multitude of dysfunctional elements that have since emerged Diri has been managing the situation with equanimity. The fallout from the circumstances surrounding the Governorship race in the state includes the approaching bye-elections to fill the senate seats left vacant by the success of the PDP candidates.
The fact that the PDP is fielding the former Governor as its Senatorial aspirant for the Western Senatorial District which was vacated by the Deputy Governor and its former chairman as the aspirant for the Central Senatorial District, which was vacated by the Governor means that the state government must pay close attention to the electoral events associated with this contest.
Already the Government has announced the establishment of a special task force of campaign workers whose task is to ensure the success of the PDP candidates’ efforts. In doing this Governor Diri has exhibited the maturity and level-headedness for which his close allies, including some of those who have now become his adversaries, have always praised him.
The conduct of the elections into the Senate will raise issues of contestation which have already been considered during earlier contests and Senator Diri’s role in the polity has prepared him to handle this sensitive duty with caution. Given the nature of politics in Bayelsa State so far Governor Diri has shown himself ready to manage the dysfunctional elements of governance with sensitivity and care if he is allowed to face
