The All Progressive Congress (APC) has a Herculean task in Bayelsa State. The governorship election scheduled for December 5 will not be a child’s play.
The body language of President Muhammadu Buhari indicates that he has come to create strong political and security institutions to restore Nigeria’s lost democratic values — in the spirit of the change mantra of the APC.
Going by the mood of President Buhari, elections will no longer be won by brute force through the meddlesomeness of security agencies and partisanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Elections will only be won by the ballot. Therefore, according to analysts APC should not think that being in control of the centre has given it an automatic ticket to depose an incumbent governor.
The election in Bayelsa, promises to be a real contest devoid of rigging, harassment, intimidation and daylight robbery, which characterised polls conducted in the past under the administration of the the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Indeed, pundits assert that the state chapter of the APC stands to lose the election if it takes its preparations for granted thinking that it will harness its advantage at the centre to wrest power from Governor Seriake Dickson and the PDP.
Observers believe that, unless the APC embarks on vigorous campaigns to sell its agenda to the people and convince them to buy into its programmes of change, the party’s desire to add Bayelsa to its territory will be a mere dream.
Investigations revealed that the APC is currently fraught with many challenges. Among them is its choice of candidate.
The people are expecting the APC to produce a credible, tasted and trusted candidate, who has no dent of corruption and deception to square up with the PDP candidate who will likely be the sitting governor. On one hand, the party’s membership strength is increasing, following the defections of PDP bigwigs into the APC.
But on the other hand, the exodus of politicians described by some persons as strange bedfellows into the APC presents a fresh challenge to the party. Most of the defectors and founding members of the APC has governorship ambitions. But there are some factors that are likely to decide who emerges the standard bearer of the party.
In Bayelsa, the three senatorial districts have produced governors, although none completed his second term. The first governor, Chief Diepreye Alameiyesiegha, hails from Amassoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa Central Senatorial District. His second tenure was botched, following his impeachment.
His deputy and, later President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who hails from Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa East Senatorial District, completed Alameiyeseigha’s tenure. He stood for re-election, but abandoned it to become the Vice-President and later the President.
The exit of Jonathan threw up Chief Timipre Sylva, who is from Brass Local Government Area in the same senatorial district.
After Sylva came Governor Dickson, who comes from Toru-Orua, Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa West Senatorial District. Therefore, some leaders of the APC are of the opinion that the party’s ticket will be contested on the basis of disparity and political inequality in local government areas.
Among the eight local government areas in the state, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Brass and Sagbama have produced governors in the persons of Alameiyesiegha, Jonathan, Sylva and Dickson respectively.
Although Nembe, Ekeremor and Yenagoa have produced deputy governors in the persons of Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and Chief Werinipre Seibarugu respectively, the Kolokuma-Opokuma has produced neither a governor nor a deputy.
Observers believe that the quest to govern the state was a principal reason behind the grand reception of the APC in Kolokuma-Opokuma. Many political heavyweights from the council have abandoned the PDP for the APC to present a common front for the party’ tickets.
But, others are making frantic efforts to puncture the Kolokuma-Opokuma argument. For instance APC members from Yenagoa are putting up strong reasoning that the APC ticket should be zoned to their council. Proponents of Yenagoa argue that the council which is a capital of the state has not developed to the status of headquarters when juxtaposed with other states’ headquarters because it has not produced a governor.
Besides, they maintain that having the largest voting population and highest concentration of non-indigenes and businesses yearning for social amneties, Yenagoa deserves the party’s ticket.
Apart from Yenagoa, APC members from Sagbama, the local government area of Dickson, are also demanding the party’s ticket. They are of the views that APC stands a clearer chance of winning the election if it shops for a candidate from Dickson’s enclave. They further posit that it will enable them complete their tenure in case the incumbent governor fails to make it. But others are of the opinion that instead of conceding the party’s ticket to Sagbama, APC should select its party’s running mate from the council to divide the votes.
With the raging zoning arguments, pundits believe that only a transparent and credible primary election comparable to the Presidential primary of APC that produced the incumbent President at the center will douce the emerging infighting for the party’s standard bearer.
Besides, the contentious issue of party membership and loyalty has reared its ugly head in the race for the party’s candidacy. With the new members trooping into the party with governorship ambitions, the old members of APC are tightening their belts to confront former members of the PDP whom they accused of planning to reap where they did not sow. Most legacy members of the APC are of the opinion that they will not allow a new member to outsmart and push them aside in the race.
A group of APC members under the aegis of the Third Force (TF) brought the argument to the fore recently. Speaking in Yenagoa, the spokesman for the group, Mr. Ebideinmo Perekeme, said only tested and trusted party loyalists should be allowed to fly the flag of the party.
Perekeme said: “We also urge the national leadership of the APC to support only steadfast and tested party loyalist whose love for the APC predated the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We implore the party’s national leadership to pick only candidates who will add value to the progressive ideal of the APC and ensure its victory in the forthcoming governorship race”.
He said it would be counterproductive to allow persons he described as fair-weather politicians, who never believed in the ideals of Buhari and the ability of the APC, to take over the party.
“Such politicians are stomach infrastructure politicians, who will grab power to water their selfish ambition at the detriment of the populace who are yearning for change as exhibited by Nigerians on March 28, 2015 with the election of President Buhari.
“We remind the party of the words of President Muhammadu Buhari who said members who have been in the trenches with the APC before the election should be considered before newcomers”, he said.
He further said that the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states will be a litmus test to the new boss of INEC, Amina Zakari.
Perekeme said: “The elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states will be a litmus test for the Zakari led INEC as the two elections will be purely on One Man, One Vote basis.
“We urge Bayelsans and the APC to take advantage of the timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“With the release of the timetable, the die is now cast. Bayelsa APC should proactively work for the strengthening of its structures from ward to state levels in its quest to win the forthcoming governorship election”.
He asked the APC to intensify grassroot mobilization, which according to him is the basis for winning elections. He commended an APC chieftain and candidate for Bayelsa Central Senatorial District in the last election, Mr. Preye Aganaba, for driving grassroots support for the party.
According to him, Aganaba undertook a sensitisation tour of 20 wards in Kolokuma-Opokuma and Yenagoa local government Areas where he called on ward committees to start working for APC’s victory.
He said: “Going forward, we call on other APC leaders in the state to emulate the efforts of Aganaba in strengthening the party’s ward structures with the aim of building a strong, united and vibrant APC that will march triumphantly into Creek Haven come February 2016.
But the Chairman of APC in the state, Mr. Tiwe Oruminighe, said all members of the party are equal despite their membership statuses. He said everybody is welcome to the party and allowed to aspire to any position of their choice.
He said the APC ticket is opened to all aspirants who must be willing to go through a strict primary election. He asked members of the party to disregard insinuations in some quarters that the party will settle for a consensus candidate.
The party chairman said: “On the issue of adoption of candidate and whatever the public must have heard about the APC, we want to reiterate that this party in Bayelsa State will follow strictly what the national party has demonstrated at the national level.
“Everybody in Bayelsa that wants to join the party somehow has an ambition. They want to be governor or any other elective offices. Yes, it is good to keep an ambition, but this party wants to tell the public that whoever is joining us should keep an ambition at quiet end and join the party to work so that the party can deliver.
“We will not make the mistake of saying we are adopting a candidate. There will be proper party primaries to select whoever that will fly the flag and I believe that the leadership in of this party is capable of producing a good standard bearer that will win election for Bayelsa State.
“I believe this will prove people wrong that we have adopted candidate and that we are are not together. This party remains one indivisible unit, very united and we will forge ahead stronger to win the coming election in Bayelsa.”
Apart from issues bordering n membership, the emergence of the party’s candidate may be hampered by the overtures of Chief Perekeme Kpodo, the former aide to the state leader of the APC, ex-Governor Timipre Sylva. Kpodo has made himself a thorn in the flesh of the APC.
He gathered disgruntled members of the legacy party and declared himself a factional chairman of the party after claiming to have dissolved the executive committee of the APC led by Oruminighe.
Apart from dismissing the claims of Kpodo and reminding members of the public that he had been expelled from the APC, the leadership of the party has taken no legal action to stop Kpodo and his group from undermining the authority of the APC.
It was gathered recently that Kpodo was shopping for an injunction in a court of competent jurisdiction to stop the operation of Oruminighe and his State Working Committee (SWC). Observers believe that unless the party acts fast, the actions of Kpodo will constitute a serious legal bottleneck to the activities of the APC.
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