The rerun
governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Council and in 101 polling units
across six other local councils of Bayelsa State will no doubt determine who
occupies the Creek Haven, the state seat of power in the next four
years. It is a contest the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP and its
main rival, the All Progressive Congress, APC cannot toy with. While the PDP is
confident of emerging victorious due to its lead in six of the seven councils
result so far released, the APC is banking on the Southern Ijaw council area
vote to upstage the ruling party.
This is
perhaps the only election in the history of the state that is being fiercely
contested aside that of 1999. Other elections in the state had started and
ended more in the ‘board room’ and then at the polling booths. It is the
expectation of Bayelsans that this time around election materials will get to
the various units across the council area as against the botched December
exercise where materials and electoral officials were hijacked by political
thugs.
An
exercise that was supposed to be civic and civil turned out to be a bloody war
of attrition, territorial conquest and supremacy. So far, the campaigns
have been laden with hate speeches, mudslinging and acrimonious attacks on
supporters and bill boards of rival parties, heightening fears that it may not
be a rancour free exercise.
While the
PDP is confident of having the day due to its lead the APC is also confident of
having the last laugh, describing the council areas its stronghold ostensibly
because its running mate, Elder Wilberforce Igiri and the state APC Chairman,
Tiwei Orunimighe, are from the area. However, it would be illogical and
misleading for any of the two leading political parties to claim Southern Ijaw
as its stronghold because the PDP and APC have strong presence and supporters
there.
The
running mate to the APC governorship candidate Elder Wilberforce Igiri and the
state party chairman Chief Tiwei Orunimighe are from the council area. Others
include former secretary to the state government, Gideon Ekeuwei, ex-agitators
– Eris Paul aka Gen Ogunboss, Africanus Ukparasia aka Gen Africa.
The PDP
also boasts of some top politicians including the Speaker, Benson Konbowei and
three other members of the state House of Assembly. Southern Ijaw has four
state constituencies and one federal constituency which are currently occupied
by the PDP.
The first
executive civilian governor of Bayelsa state and Governor General of the Ijaw
Nation, Late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was also a staunch PDP chieftain
whose political structures are still alive and afoot in the area. The PDP also
has Chief Patrick Osunu, a former chairman of the council area. There is also
Steven Diver also a former chairman of the council area, Ezekiel Youngbo, a
former chairman of the defunct Ogboin North council and several other political
appointees whose influence in their respective communities cannot be ruled out.
Also, there are some ex agitators rooting for Dickson’s return such as Joshua
Maciver and Pastor Reuben Wilson among others.
There is
also the incumbent chairman of the council area, Remember Ogbe who before now
was the state coordinator of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Scheme. He
was rumoured to have fallen out with the governor, a claim that was rubbished
when he appeared at the governor’s world press briefing and dismissed the claim
as the handiwork of the opposition.
If the
people of Southern Ijaw were to cast their votes on the basis of performance,
Dickson would have gotten it, due to his resuscitation of Central senatorial
road project designed to link the predominantly riverine council to mainland
Yenagoa. Already, the road project has reached Ayama in Southern Ijaw before it
was stalled due to dwindling allocation accruing to the state from the
federation account.
But the
complaint is that the governor is not paying as much attention to stomach
‘infrastructure’. The governor has also been criticized for not giving more
jobs to indigenous contractors. However, Dickson has said that he does not want
to compromise on the quality of jobs. Thus, Dickson has been banking on his
performance to return to the Government House.
Also
Dickson community to community meet the people tour may turn out to be the game
changer for the ruling party as the tour afforded the governor the opportunity
to interface with the communities in all the nooks and crannies of the council
to sell his agenda to the locals The APC may have captured power at the
federal level but the PDP remains a formidable party in the state where money,
to a large extent, plays a major role in swaying the vote.
Source: Vanguard
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