Bayelsa: Dickson under pressure over zoning, other grievances in PDP

As Peoples Democratic Party prepares for the November 16 Governorship Election, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that Governor Seriake Dickson is currently under severe pressure to resolve zoning and other disagreements in his party

FOLLOWING some governorship aspirants’ open disagreement with the process that led to the emergence of Senator Douye Diri as the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate for the November 16, 2019 Governorship Election in Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson has moved to reconcile aggrieved members of his party.

It would be recalled that one of the most influential governorship aspirants in the state on the ticket of PDP, Timi Alaibe, a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), had challenged Diri’s emergence as PDP’s candidate in the state. He alleged that the PDP primary in the state was manipulated and held through a flawed process. Aside from Alaibe, some other aspirants and top stakeholders had not only protested the outcome of the primary election but have also reportedly defected to rival political parties.

Insiders said Dickson, who seemed totally confident that no kind of disaffection or internal opposition would affect the chances of his party negatively, have seen the need to address aggrieved members. A source close to the governor said he has since reached out to the aggrieved members and is determined to keep PDP united during the November elections.

For example, we learnt during the week that the governor is especially concerned with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters, who are said to be so much aggrieved with the outcome of the primary elections in the party, particularly the choice of the candidate for the Deputy Governor’s seat, that it is being alleged they are ready to work against the party (PDP) in the governorship election.

Perhaps of greater concern to the party and the governor is the fact that a lot of the active members of the Restoration Group, Governor Dickson’s inner political family, are also bitter over the process that led to Diri’s emergence and more recently the choice of the deputy governorship candidate. An informed observer, Comrade Wilfred Frank Ogbotobo, the Coordinator of South-South Legacy Forum, told The Nation during the week that “unless Dickson is sensitive enough to identify and address most of the aggrieved members of his group and the party at large, the party and his candidate may lose out as these aggrieved members may either frustrate him or be used against PDP’s candidate.”

As he puts it, “Governor Dickson is sinking. He is now making frantic moves to reach out to stakeholders, having realised his blunders. But I don’t think he will get far. The die is cast. In fact, some of his closest aides have actually openly questioned the rationale for his latest desperate attempts at reconciliation, on the ground that he refused to do the same thing in the first place. Governor Dickson is alone and in panic mode.”

Assessing the chances of PDP with Senator Diri as the flagbearer, Ogbotobo said; “Senator Douye Diri ticket can’t fly and Governor Dickson has seen the handwriting on the wall.

“In the first place, Senator Diri’s candidature doesn’t have the full support of even the governor’s own group, the Restoration Group; and that is a major setback. Secondly, his choice of Senator Ewrujakpor as running mate is also a big disappointment to his own kitchen cabinet. This is because of the area of Bayelsa state he came from. And, it is an open secret that this senator Ewrujakpor is being used to facilitate the governor’s selfish agenda after leaving office.

“So, I don’t think the issue of not conceding the deputy governorship slot to former President Goodluck Jonathan will be a major factor in the prospects of the PDP in the governorship election. In the first place, Jonathan has no solid political structure for those seeking refuge to launch any political ambition in Bayelsa PDP.

“Moreover, even in his Ogbia Local Government Area, he couldn’t point to any tangible legacy to support his claim to any form of entitlement.

Rather, PDP will lose the governorship election due to the abysmal failures of the Seriake Dickson administration and the wrong outcome of the candidates due to Dickson’s dictatorial decisions and actions,” he said.

Tipping All Progressives Congress (APC) to win the election, Ogbotobo said: “As a party, APC is happy that Bayelsans have awakened to the truth about Dickson’s lies and unprecedented incompetence and failure.” He said APC’s is reaping from the development, pointing at the fact that the party has been welcoming top politicians from PDP defecting ‘in droves.’

But recent actions of PDP leadership, both at the national level and within the state, have confirmed their acknowledgement of the ugly situation and their willingness to resolve the matter before the Election Day. For example, the PDP national leadership, last week, revealed that it has started reconciliation efforts in both Bayelsa State and Kogi State. It also said the efforts to reconcile aggrieved aspirants in the recently held governorship primaries in the two states had already yielded some positive results.

Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, who made the declarations, said in a statement that “the party would not allow grievances to destroy its grassroots structures in both Bayelsa and Kogi states ahead of the elections.” He urged the members of the party not to be afraid. “The PDP assures that it is leaving no stones unturned to ensure that all aggrieved members are appeased so that our party faces the elections as a family,” he stated, adding, “members and supporters have nothing to fear as reconciliatory efforts in the aftermath of the governorship primary elections in the two states are yielding immense results and further strengthening its structures and formation as one big, united and formidable family.

In Bayelsa in particular, it seems Governor Seriake Dickson and his party, the PDP, did not need to be told before commencing a reconciliatory process to resolve grievances that arose from the contentious primaries.

A statement by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Fidelis Soriwei, had confirmed that some of the aspirants had held some crucial meetings with the governor after the election which produced Senator Douye Diri.

Some of the aspirants, who are believed to have met with Dickson, include the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd); Keniebi Okoko, the Chief of Staff in the Government House, Talford Ongolo, among others.

Zoning politics

Although it is still an unwritten rule, zoning arrangement has become the political code in Bayelsa State since 1999 when the country returned to civil democracy. This explains why stakeholders have anchored some of their agitations on zoning in the forthcoming election. Interestingly, the two leading political parties, the ruling PDP and the main opposition, the APC, chose their governorship candidates from the same zone. Curiously, this has not totally rested the issue of zoning.

As soon as the political whistle was blown for this year’s governorship election, the issue of which of the three senatorial zones should produce the next governor took a central position. It would be recalled that Bayelsa East Senatorial District comprises of Brass, Nembe and Ogbia LGAs; Bayelsa Central Senatorial District has Yenagoa LGA, Southern Ijaw and Kolokuma/Opokuma LGAs while Bayelsa West Senatorial District has Sagbama and Ekeremor.

It is on record that it was Bayelsa Central that produced Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as the first democratically elected governor of the state. He came from the Southern Ijaw LGA.

It is also on record that D.S.P Alamieyeseigha’s Deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, hails from Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa East Senatorial District. Jonathan succeeded Alamieyeseigha as governor. Jonathan later emerged the Vice-President of the country before his election as President. When Jonathan left for the centre before the expiration of the zone’s tenure, the same Bayelsa East Senatorial District produced Chief Timipre Sylva who hails from Brass as governor in 2007.

In 2012, the argument of where the governorship would be zoned was revived. While some argued then that Bayelsa West Senatorial District, comprising Sagbama and Ekeremor is the only zone that was yet to produce a governor, others said Bayelsa East is yet to exhaust its eight years tenure.

Eventually, Henry Seriake Dickson, from Sagbama LGA of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, emerged the governor.

Eight years after, the issue of where the governor should come from naturally became an issue. Even when PDP and APC got their governorship candidates from the same zone, it was gathered that zoning of the slot of the running mate became a big issue, especially in PDP.

This explains why, as at the morning of Friday, barely three days the Independent National Electoral Commission’s PDP’s candidate was still not certain. On Wednesday, PDP candidate, Diri, who visited the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Yenagoa, evaded the question when reporters asked him the name of his running mate. All he could say was, “If you go to the INEC website, you will know who my running mate is.

“I ran primaries; after the primaries, I ran under a platform which is my party, the PDP.

“And the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria empowers me to nominate a running mate.

“And when I do that, I’m not doing that alone; I’m doing that through my party.

“And my party has the responsibility of forwarding that name to INEC and it is only when INEC has published that he becomes my running mate.

“And that’s why I’m referring you to INEC website.”

Observers see this as a confirmation that the zoning intrigues may have remained unresolved in PDP. If this is true, it remains to be seen how it will affect the fortunes of the party.