Standstill in Bayelsa

The inconclusive governorship election in Bayelsa State has put the yuletide and other activities associated with it at a standstill as the two major political parties in the state position themselves for the next stage of the political battle.

THE camp of the incumbent governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson and the All Progressive Congress candidate and former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva have been edgy since the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

The development is gradually taking its toll on the state on the socio economic activities of the people as everything is almost grounding to a halt. Though no date has been fixed for the conduct of a fresh election in the predominantly riverine council which was turned into a war zone penultimate weekend, a source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the commission is contemplating January 9 as the likely date for exercise.The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC had penultimate Sunday cancelled the rescheduled poll in the volatile council area declaring that it was substantially marred by violence, ballot box snatching and kidnapping of electoral officers. The council has 120,827 voters, second only in terms of electoral strength to Yenagoa which has over 130,000 registered voters.

Interestingly, the political gladiators have shifted their battle to the headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Abuja to fight their cause. While the PDP supported the cancellation of the exercise in the troubled council area, its main rival, the APC is pushing for the validation of the poll and for the commission to announce the result which it claimed was in its favour.

The political uncertainty has also affected the preparation for Christmas celebrations in the state as the usual decoration of the streets by the state government has been abandoned. Bayelsa is predominantly a civil servant state that relies solely on government to make things happen during the yuletide celebration.

To this end, many civil servants in the state are in a panic mood and are not sure of getting their December salaries early enough before the celebrations. “But for the political impasse, we would have been seeing trailers loaded with bags of rice and other items purchased by the state government for onward distribution to civil servants, friends and political appointees as witnessed last year.

“As I speak with you, the state has practically moved to Abuja because of the INEC meeting with critical stakeholders from the state on the cancelled Southern Ijaw election and the way forward,” a government source told Vanguard. Supporters of the two leading parties, the PDP and the APC are also agitated about what the outcome of the Southern Ijaw poll will portend for them.

The usually busy campaign office of the APC candidate along the Isaac Boro express road has been a shadow of its self as the place has remained under lock for some days now. But the situation was slightly different at the Restoration Campaign office of the PDP candidate at the Biogbolo suburb of Yenagoa as the office was opened and some of the staff were seen discussing in hush tones the political development in the state.

A cattle dealer along the Bayelsa Palm Estate Road, who simply identified himself as Garba also expressed sadness over the political impasse in the state which according to him, is affecting their business. “The politicians, who are our major customers, are not coming to buy our cows because the election was inconclusive,” he lamented.

APC is gradually winding up in Bayelsa–Dickson

Meanwhile, Dickson, the PDP flag bearer and the Sylva are still throwing jibes at each in preparation for the Southern Ijaw poll. An elated Dickson said the defection of over 2000 members of the APC to the ruling PDP in the state marks the gradual winding up of the APC in Bayelsa.

But Sylva through the Director of Media and Publicity of Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, Chief Nathan Egba, advised its members to be wary of the antics of the PDP to lure them to their fold. Dickson, who alongside chieftains of the PDP received the decampees in Yenagoa said the action of more defectors from the APC to the PDP was an indication of the fact that the machinations of the APC have been exposed as displayed in the governorship election in the state.

The returnees, according to the governor, were deceived by the leadership of the APC, noting that now that they have known the truth, they have retraced their steps to the PDP. Assuring the returnees of the readiness of the leadership of the PDP to give them a sense of belonging, Dickson said the umbrella is big enough to accommodate them.

On the violence that marred the conduct of the re-scheduled governorship election in Southern Ijaw, he said the APC should be held responsible, noting that, instead of preparing people for the election, the APC was preparing the innocent youths for violence. His words, “this ceremony of receiving APC defectors is most significant, because it signals the winding up of APC in Bayelsa State, which is known as ‘operation winding up APC in Bayelsa’.

“I listened to your reasons for being deceived into the APC fold, so you all shall be carried along in the new government and as your fathers, we believe you have not done anything wrong.” Similarly, Dickson said, as the governor of the state, he was prepared to receive everyone, and all political parties, including defectors from the APC and Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM unconditionally.

He commended youths from Ekowe and Amassoma as well as women for their gallantry in resisting the soldiers, who collaborated with militants in carting away ballot boxes at gun point on the Leaders of the APC decampees, Mr. Timiebi Odutebe from Ward (10) Southern Ijaw, expressed gratitude to Governor Dickson for receiving them into the PDP pointing out that he has improved on the infrastructures of the state.

Don’t fall for PDP antics,Bayelsa APC warns members

Meanwhile, the Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, SICO, has advised its members in the state, to be wary of the antics of the PDP, to lure them to their fold. Director of Media and Publicity of SICO, Chief Nathan Egba, in a statement in Yenagoa, said the advice became necessary in view of the “devious plans” of the PDP to entice members of the APC in the state. Among such plans is the recent acts of inviting unsuspecting APC members through their relations and friends to PDP gatherings.

“Such people are then immediately paraded before television cameras and other means of mass media, as new APC decampees, with a view to making the general public believe that Governor Dickson is gaining popularity, whereas, the reverse is the case. “On several occasions, we have seen these people who were swindled, later come out to renounce or protest against what transpired.

The most recent case was Monday night when some of such young people protested around the Government House Banquet Hall, in the Onopa area of Yenagoa, after been used for one of such media displays. “While we in the Chief Timipre Sylva and Igiri team of the APC know very well that such antics are not enough to return Governor Dickson to Government House, we feel constrained to draw the attention of the general public and particularly our teeming young APC members to these cheap antics.

The APC hereby advise her members to be wary of people they associate with and places they go to during this critical period, especially when it has to do with events held in Government facilities or houses of well-known PDP members. “This is because APC members have on several occasions complained about been ambushed by Governor Dickson and his top aides while on ordinarily innocuous visits to houses of their friends and relations in the PDP.

We do not want our members or even members of the public who are not PDP members to continue to fall for such cheap tricks which are only designed to make Dickson popular, when indeed he is not.”