Bayelsa 2019: Who will succeed Dickson?

As the political parties and the people prepare for the November 2, 2019 Governorship Election in Bayelsa State, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, in this report unveils some likely aspirants and their chances of succeeding Governor Henry Seriake Dickson

FOLLOWING Independent National Electoral Commission’s confirmation that the next governorship election in Bayelsa State will hold November 2 this year, barely seven months from today, the political choreography in the oil-rich South-south state has received fresh vigour.

Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, who made the confirmation, said the Commission at its meeting “approved the timetable and schedule of activities for the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states which will hold in both states on Saturday 2nd November 2019.”

According to him, “The official notice for both elections will be issued on 1st August 2019 while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from 2nd-29th August 2019.”

Although he stated that the “Campaigns by political parties in public shall commence on 2nd August 2019 and end on 31st October 2019, The Nation learnt that interested aspirants in Bayelsa State and their associates have commenced discrete underground preparations in earnest.

Even before the official notice, the race for the succession of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party has been of special interest to Nigerians. Given the phenomenal growth of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and the party’s seeming determination to unseat PDP, some observers are particularly interested to see if the party can actually take over the governance of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state. The state has since 1999 remained a PDP stronghold.

But the result of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections conducted earlier this year shows that APC had indeed broken PDP hegemony in Bayelsa, as it won three NASS seats.

For example, in Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, Preye Oseke polled 56, 804 to beat the incumbent Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon Konbowei Friday Benson of the PDP who polled 34,105 votes.

Also in Bayelsa East, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s senatorial district, Biobarakuma Degi-Erenenyo, was declared the winner as the senator-elect. With this development, observers said the upcoming governorship and state Assembly elections would be interesting as the two leading parties are poised for a serious battle. As a result of the progress so far made by APC, informed observers said the party that will produce Dickson’s successor will be the party that fields a better candidate. This suggests that the race for the parties’ tickets would, to a lsrge extent determine the outcome of the race.

Likely aspirants

Timipre Sylva

Chief Timipre Sylva, the current leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State is a former governor of the state on the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He won the governorship election to succeed Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from

May 29, 2007. After four years in office as governor, he was denied the opportunity to contest for a second term in 2012.

Although he is yet to officially declare interest to vie for the office, The Nation learnt that his candidacy is a major subject of discussion not only in APC but also by all the other political parties in the state, especially the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It would be recalled that his ambition to return to the state’s Government House has remained a subject of controversy since 2015, when Governor Dickson publicly advised him to drop his ambition of returning to the Government House in 2016.

Dickson had then warned Sylva, his predecessor, that “he could not be governor of Bayelsa State again.” Since then, insiders confirmed, the battle line had been drawn between the two as, according to a source, “Sylva is determined to prove Dickson wrong.”

“If he picks the APC governorship ticket, Sylva will be a strong candidate because he remains one of the few strong politicians that have what it takes to challenge whoever Governor Dickson and the ruling PDP may field. His party, APC, has also grown significantly in Bayelsa and as the ruling party at the centre, the importance of its support to a powerful politician like Sylva cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand,” said Pa Andrew Ebitimi.

Timi Alaibe

Another visible aspirant for the plum seat in Yenagua is Timi Alaibe. Late last year when five political groups in Bayelsa State, announced their readiness to prevail on Alaibe, a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to join the governorship race in the state, they described him as “the most qualified to succeed Governor Seriake Dickson in 2019.”

The five political groups, made up of Timi Alaibe Youth Vanguard, Bayelsa elsa, boasted in a statement made by their spokesman, Prince Peres Ogbogbo, that they “have structures across the 105 wards in the state that can give our principal Timi Alaibe the mandate to be the next governor of the state.”

State, Advancement Movement, Alaibe Support Group, Committee for the Development of Bayelsa State and Concerned Progressive Youths of Bayelsa, boasted in a statement made by their spokesman, Prince Peres Ogbogbo, that they “have structures across the 105 wards in the state that can give our principal Timi Alaibe the mandate to be the next governor of the state.”

Although he was then yet to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogbogbo specifically advised Alaibe, who was then still a member of All Progressives Congress (APC), to contest on the platform of the ruling PDP. “Timi Alaibe should contest on the platform of PDP because that is the party of our people, so that he will continue with the good works of Seriake Dickson who has the love and passion for the development of the Ijaw nation,” he said. As the group anticipated, Alaibe soon after the advise, returned to PDP, which of course was his original political platform.

Today, Alaibe remains one of the most experienced of the known aspirants for the Bayelsa plum seat. It would be recalled that between 1999 and 2003, he contested the PDP governorship primaries against Late D. S. P Alameiseigha, the former governor of the state and former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Alaibe also contested on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in the aborted 2007 governorship election in the state and contested the cancelled 2016 governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Insiders said he has grassroots support, perhaps because of the rural infrastructural projects executed by the NDDC when he was there and the original peace initiatives for militants associated to him.

Added to these is the belief by many

that he still has war chest and wide connections.

Others:

Aside Sylva and Alaibe, sources said some top professionals and young politicians are being lobbied to throw their hat on the ring for the governorship seat.

Perhaps the earliest known possible aspirant is Reuben Okoya, a known political associate of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. As early as mid-last year, a group, the Campaign for Development and Democracy in Bayelsa (CDDB), began discreet moves to promote Okoya’s aspiration to succeed Dickson. The Nation learnt that although very little was heard of the moves to promote Okoya’s ambition last year, with the announcement by INEC, his promoters are already being mobilized to renew the drive.

It would be recalled that Okoya, a former Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), also threw his hat into the governorship ring in 2015. An insider alleged that it was Jonathan that “prevailed upon him to drop his ambition when the former president decided to support Governor Henry Seriake Dickson for a second term.”

Although some observers claimed that former President Jonathan’s opinion will go a long way in determining who PDP and Governor Dickson will finally settle for, a source said promoters of Okoya are waiting to read the former president’s body movement.

Another aspirant that was recently mentioned is Mr. Ebi Egbe, the CEO Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Limited. We gathered that he is being promoted by youths under the aegis of Advocates for a Better Bayelsa Forum. It is believed that in the coming weeks, more aspirants would launch their behind-the-scene campaigns.

Zoning factor:

During the last governorship election in the state, so much was said about the importance of zoning. It was recalled then in a report that “out of the eight local governments in the state, only one has neither produced a governor, or a deputy governor. The first governor, DSP Alameiyeseigha, hails from Ijaw South Local Government of the Central Senatorial District. His deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Ogbia Local Government of the East Senatorial Zone took over after Alameiyeseigha was impeached . He won the PDP ticket for re-election but was given the Vice Presidential ticket in 2007.

The exit of Jonathan threw up Chief Timipre Sylva, who is from Brass Local Government Area in the Senatorial District.

After Sylva came the incumbent Governor Dickson who hails from Toru-Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa West Senatorial District.”

Now that Dickson is about to leave office, it remains to be seen if the leading parties will consider zoning before choosing their candidates.

Perhaps to confirm that zoning may actually become an issue in during the campaigns, a source in APC, said some powerful elements are pushing to party to consider picking its candidate from an area he described as ‘Kolokuma-Opokuma area.’

As he puts it: “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.

“Though 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,” he said.