Bayelsa State Governorship Elections , a layman's perspective...
17 May 2015 at 14:52
The next Political rumble is slated for Bayelsa State for thepost of Governor....
As the midnight oil burns, the tempo of political ogboni meetings is on the rise and all and sundry are testing the political waters with their'toes'.
The potential gladiators come in all shape and sizes, the professional politicians, the Ex this and Ex that, the nouveau riche, the powers of experience and that of incumbency. All with the desire to manage the resources of Bayelsa State.
Elections in this tiny state has never been issue based but has been about federal might, external connections beyond Bayelsa state, lack of internal party democracy, carry-go, while extreme violence often exerts itself.
Thus elections in Bayelsa state have been very expensive and most of the resources expended is normally expended outside the state to influence local advantages without an attendant benefit from these huge expenditure. This has caused the state to suffer from inception.
The following will shape the elections :
1. Governor Dickson who now breathes a sigh of relief as his opponents who wanted to use might of presidency to gain an advantage over him will now have to contend with him on his own terms.
2. The ownership of the PDP ticket does no longer guarantee success at the polls as the APC and Labour party provides alternative platforms and there is no automatic support of the coercive organs of government…Maybe!
3. TheAPC stalwarts’ believe it will be a case of a low hanging fruit and Bayelsastate is supposedly deservedly theirs and this 'myth' is causing droves todecamp to them , hoping to be anointed by the leadership of the APC.
4. That GMB as a 'born-again' politician will bea factor as he will faced with the choice of (a)dis-allowing internal party democracy and (b) orsupport the national tradition of writing results or CHANGE our politics for the better?
5. The following known eligible politicians MIGHT vie for the office and if they don’t will have candidates that they support and they are : Governor Seriake Dickson,Chief DSP Alamiesiegha ,Chief Timipre Silva,Chief Ndutimi Alaibe, Heineken Lokpobiri (if he loses his bid to go tothe Senate), Hon.Warman Ogoriba and others still thinking like Preye Aganaba…
6. Thewinner will be whoever will be able to build a wide coalition in Bayelsa andbeyond the River Nun and Mbiama River.
7. Thereis currently no advantage of spread or followership due to the expensive natureof retaining political structures have made it impossible for any Bayelsapolitician to have a state wide spread and this affects even the incumbent andthus all the gladiators will leave their political comfort zones to beg forvotes from the Boys & the people.
8. Please do not worry as ‘ISSUES’ will not count but ‘INTERESTS’ will rule the alignments and dis-alignments.
In closing, the games will continue and the wholenation will be involved in this particular election but don’t worry PresidentGoodluck Jonathan will likely only grant advice and will not endorse anybody,as he smiles and watch the unfolding drama from the sidelines ( The reasons I don’tknow).
No more hiding and let the games begin!!!