Soon after the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson, seemed to anchor their campaign strategy on the perceived disagreements in the APC.
In that primary election, former Governor Timipre Sylva beat other candidates twice in the initial and rescheduled primaries, to emerge the party’s candidate in the December 5 governorship election.
Sylva’s emergence came in spite of orchestrated attempts by certain elements to foist a semblance of violence and disagreements upon the election and pass it off as the handiwork of Chief Sylva.
That unfortunate incident created the initial disagreements within the APC, a situation the Dickson campaign celebrated as indicative of the APC’s weakness.
Already, the PDP campaign, unable to show proof of a performing government, was celebrating the problems, unaware that the APC had taken a deep breath to understand the seeming crisis that attended the primary and which sought to divide the party.
What was clear after the review was that the whole exercise was in the destabilisation character of the PDP, which also tried similar tactics in 2013 – 2014, when the APC was being formed.
The PDP, then ruling at the centre, employed disinformation, lies and innuendoes to try to stall the progressives’ coalition. Unfortunately for the PDP, those plans failed and the APC came together strongly as a coalition and ran a most disciplined campaign acknowledged for its focus on the issues that Nigerians cared about. The result was the massive landslide victory that dislodged the PDP across Nigeria.
The same plot is playing out in the Bayelsa governorship election and the PDP and Governor Dickson are about to find out how jaded their plot is.
The recent inauguration of the APC Campaign Council must have given Dickson and PDP the jitters, because of the resolve of all the aspirants in the APC primary to work for the victory of the party’s candidate.
The words of Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who was said to be at loggerheads with Sylva, must surely worry the Dickson camp. THISDAY newspaper reported in its November 11, 2015 edition that at the end of the APC campaign council’s inauguration last week, Oshiomhole said: “We have moved beyond reconciliation, the party (APC) in Bayelsa is one. Primaries have been contested and won, a candidate has emerged and everybody is queuing behind him. We have met tonight to strategise on all the issues.
“As members of the progressive family, we know that the people of Bayelsa are anxious to benefit from change, to move away from the party of conservatism to the one that promises change and we are happy that we have a candidate that has enormous electoral appeal on the basis of the structures and performance records. We are no longer talking about reconciliation.
Because we are progressive, we had primaries and despite protests we are obliged to service our democratic principles. So if you talk about issues of reconciliation, you should talk to the PDP because this is where people were forbidden from contesting elections. In our party, the APC, no one is prevented from participating in the democratic process. For Bayelsa, we are going for the governorship election and we are confident that we shall win.
“We are all going to Bayelsa to campaign, we have a coherent message and we have a credible and competent messenger. In any electioneering campaign, two things are important, the quality of the message and that of the messenger. We are sure of victory.”
Governor Aminu Tambuwal attested to Sylva’s competence when he said, “The signals are clear from Bayelsa and by the grace of God, the state is ready for the change train.
Bayelsa is set to join the ruling party. Sylva’s records are there to speak for him. I have been to Bayelsa while he was the governor and after he left office. The records are clear. I believe the people have the advantage of comparing the two individuals we are talking about and I believe the APC candidate will be the one the people will vote for.”
Like a man scared to square up to a challenge, Dickson is running to the courts to seek the easy way out. That in itself is a clear sign of the fear that has gripped the PDP in Bayelsa State. Twisting logic, the party has approached the courts requesting that Sylva be disqualified because he took the oath of office twice.
It is strange logic because Sylva’s victory at the 2007 general election was annulled by the appeal court in 2007, on which basis a fresh election was conducted, which he won by yet another landslide. So the former governor took two oaths of office, not as a result of running two terms in office but as a result of a re-run election.
A public affairs analyst summed up the PDP’s move as “desperation run amok”. It is desperation, indeed, because when President Goodluck Jonathan was sued from within the PDP to debar him from running in the election this year because he took the presidential oath of office twice, elements within the ruling party then were livid.
The Supreme Court decided in favour of Dr. Jonathan, on which basis he stood in the election. With that precedent in mind, why is Dickson still desperate? It is yet another reason why the PDP is raking muck and fabricating tales wherever it can, because suddenly, for a man who had cared little about meeting the people, Dickson is touring the state frantically and repeating the same promises he made four years ago.
Last week he staged a meeting with ex-militants and regurgitated his promises. Sadly for him, but happily for the people of Bayelsa, Change is at the door.
Newman is a Public Affairs Analyst based in Yenagoa.
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