Iheld the above opinion before Jonathan was kicked out of Aso Rock by Nigerians. Unfortunately, I still hold the same opinion today about my home state, Bayelsa, the more reason the wind of change blowing across the state could not have come at a better time. Bayelsa and its long-suffering inhabitants earnestly desire change. Bayelsa is crying for freedom. Freedom from impunity. Freedom
from corruption. Freedom from neglect. Freedom from looters. Freedom from poverty. Freedom from imposition and political bondage. Freedom from insecurity. Freedom from underdevelopment and freedom from wastage and bad governance. The same way the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) corruptly despoiled the country at the federal level, the same way they have suffocated my people through bad governance. What has happened to Bayelsans since 1999 till date is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. How can the people who bear the brunt of environmental degradation resulting from the exploration and mining of its rich endowment in petroleum resources again be so relegated and degraded by inept political leadership both at the state and federal level?
The current status of the state cannot be said to its almost 19 years of existence. Created on October 1, 1996, Bayelsa has remained a sleeping giant due to the inappropriate leadership. According to Wikipedia: “Bayelsa State has one of the largest crude oil and natural gas deposits in Nigeria. As a result, petroleum production is extensive in the state. However, the majority of Bayelsans live in poverty. They are mainly rural dwellers due to its peculiar terrain and lack of adequate transportation, health, education or other infrastructure as a result of decades of neglect by the central governments, state governments, and petroleum prospecting companies. This has been a large problem in the state since its creation and successive state governments have not been able to address and repair the issue. The state, as a result, has an almost non-existent commerce. Successive state governments have, however, embarked on various industrial projects (even venturing into the oil and gas sector), and ‘poverty-alleviation’ programs to reverse this situation. However, some argue that there is nothing on ground to show for huge sums of money spent for development by successive and present state governments.”
But I am glad that the change the people so desire is now knocking at the gates of Creek Haven. I also know that my people will not allow this opportunity for genuine and lasting change pass them by if the events at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex last Saturday can be taken as an indication of the iron resolve of the people to take their destiny in their hands. The recent exodus of present leaders and great sons of the state into the APC, I believe, represents Bayelsa’s finest hour and I want to earnestly plead with my people not to allow the opportunity slip. I believe this is the time for Bayelsa to embrace progressive politics and so rise and truly live up to its sobriquet “The Glory of All Lands”.
When about a week ago, my brother and Governor, Seriake Dickson promised not to deny the All Progressives Congress (APC) the use of state facilities, if they request for it, I saw a politician with a difference. Did he really have a choice on the matter? He could not have stopped the tsunami anyway! The people own the facilities because they were provided through their taxes. They will use them when they need to utilise them irrespective of political affiliations.
Could it be said that Dickson had a grand vision on where he wanted to lead the state as encapsulated in his inaugural speech in 2012, in which he acknowledge the level of decay in the state and promised to redress them? But just like he predicted, the resistance came but whether he rose above it to do right by serving the interest of the people remains to be seen. His critics say that those who singlehandedly installed him never gave him the chance to successfully implement his dream of a genuine paradigm shift in the management of the affairs of the state. They argue that what his benefactors gave him with one hand they pried from him with more than a thousand hands. They also say that governance in the state took a back seat long ago as it has never been about how to better the lots of the people. But how to satiate the insatiable appetite of a supposed power bloc who see the Creek Haven as their rightful investment. Even the making of Dame Patience Jonathan a Permanent Secretary – a post she later resigned – was considered a flash in the pan. Nothing short of being given unfettered access to the common till was considered enough, they say. This is the bitter past which must now guide Bayelsans into our rightful glorious future.
Therefore the recent shedding of excessive weight by the PDP following the massive defection of its creme de la creme into the APC ahead of the December governorship election in the state, was a natural consequence of the nauseating level of bad and intolerable affairs of governance in the state by the PDP. Among key members of PDP that defected to APC during the mega rally held at the main bowl of the Samson Siasia Sports Complex were former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe; Senator Heineken Lokpobri; former Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr Imoro Kubor; former Bayelsa State Heads of Service, Hon. Obegha Oworibo and Mrs Gloria Izonfou; former commissioners in the state, Chief Lionel Jonathan-Omo and Mrs. Charity Vadalego; and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Stella Dorgu.
Others include: former NDDC chairman, Dr. Tarila Teepebah, Senator John Brambrayefa, Mrs Vivian Imananagha-Ere, Chief Fred Ekiyegha, Chief Alex Ekiotenne, Chief Ebitimi Amgbare, Capt Matthew Karimo (rtd), and Major Andrew Oputa (rtd.), just to mention a few due to constraint of space.
Most Nigerians hold that the PDP is dead at the national level. It must die at the local level as well for the real change the people desire to take root and fruit. The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was emphatic in his rhetoric while receiving the over 2000 leaders who dumped the PDP for the party of example in the state. The APC chief said: “Who is left in the PDP now? Nobody! The people in Bayelsa are making history for the South-south zone. The APC leaders in Bayelsa State are very loyal and fought gallantly against the false claim that ‘it is our own.’ When they overcame such false campaign, their eyes opened and they saw recklessness, under-performance, and failure. It was only Edo that survived their onslaught. Can we allow ourselves to lose out? When we vote, we bring back Bayelsa to the mainstream of politics.”
Odigie-Oyegun added that, “This is the first time a party is totally decapitated. The chairman of the PDP who represents the head of the party has left and the PDP is now headless. Anybody that is headless cannot survive,” he said. “We now have former deputy governors, former National Assembly members, former commissioners, former this and former that. Who is left in the PDP? Nobody. The People in Bayelsa is making history for the South South zone.” I cannot but agree with my boss, because I fail to see those who are presently clinging to straws in the Bayelsa PDP can outwit the now formidable APC political machine in the battle for the next governor to occupy the Creek Haven next year.
The Bayelsa State leader of the APC and former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, underscored this point during the reception rally when he said: “The PDP has been decapitated at the national level. Development was not brought to us during their time in office. The East-West road was abandoned. If they claim we should vote for the PDP, they should show us roads….”
On his part, former NDDC boss, Alaibe, simply described the earthquake that the hit the PDP in Bayelsa as the dawn of a new day. According to him, the needed change in the state is here. “This is common sense revolution. It is not change for the sake of it. We are changing from poverty to prosperity. We are changing from lies and deceit. We are changing from ‘Wayo’. A state as rich as Bayelsa cannot tolerate poverty. It is not our portion that our streets show poverty. How can one provide oil and gas and not benefit from it? Change has come to Bayelsa,” Alaibe stated.
Inokoba in his parting shots declared that the PDP’s administration under the leadership of Dickson had witnessed misrule and utter abandonment of good governance. “The labour of our forefathers has been rubbished. Bayelsa restoration has become retrogression,” he stated, adding, “Bayelsa PDP has become the ‘Fuji House of Commotion’. Instead of development, we have witnessed disrespect to the elders in the state.”
Senator Lokpobri noted that PDP in the state was dead, saying its funeral rites will be conducted during the governorship election on December 5. “Today, we have killed the PDP and have fixed its burial date for December 5. That date will not change. We are keeping a date with history,” Lokpobri said.
I dare say that the symbolic presentation of brooms to the new entrants into the Bayelsa APC, by its national chairman is a direct RED CARD to Dickson and his vestiges of PDP pretenders in the state. Let him start by packing his things out of the Government House because the people have spoken and will yet speak!
Ref: http://www.leadership.ng/columns/454610/seriake-dickson-gets-red-card
“The people (of Bayelsa) expected so much from him (ex-President Goodluck Jonathan). They believed that as the President of this country, being the son of Bayelsa and Niger Delta, they should have benefitted from his government in many ways as it has happened in other areas where the people felt the impact of the President because he came from their state or zone. But, in this case, there is nothing to show that Bayelsa State has produced the President. Go to Bayelsa today, there is no federal presence in Bayelsa” – being an excerpt from one of my interviews published in THE NATION newspaper shortly before the 2015 General Elections.
Iheld the above opinion before Jonathan was kicked out of Aso Rock by Nigerians. Unfortunately, I still hold the same opinion today about my home state, Bayelsa, the more reason the wind of change blowing across the state could not have come at a better time. Bayelsa and its long-suffering inhabitants earnestly desire change. Bayelsa is crying for freedom. Freedom from impunity. Freedom
from corruption. Freedom from neglect. Freedom from looters. Freedom from poverty. Freedom from imposition and political bondage. Freedom from insecurity. Freedom from underdevelopment and freedom from wastage and bad governance. The same way the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) corruptly despoiled the country at the federal level, the same way they have suffocated my people through bad governance. What has happened to Bayelsans since 1999 till date is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. How can the people who bear the brunt of environmental degradation resulting from the exploration and mining of its rich endowment in petroleum resources again be so relegated and degraded by inept political leadership both at the state and federal level?
The current status of the state cannot be said to its almost 19 years of existence. Created on October 1, 1996, Bayelsa has remained a sleeping giant due to the inappropriate leadership. According to Wikipedia: “Bayelsa State has one of the largest crude oil and natural gas deposits in Nigeria. As a result, petroleum production is extensive in the state. However, the majority of Bayelsans live in poverty. They are mainly rural dwellers due to its peculiar terrain and lack of adequate transportation, health, education or other infrastructure as a result of decades of neglect by the central governments, state governments, and petroleum prospecting companies. This has been a large problem in the state since its creation and successive state governments have not been able to address and repair the issue. The state, as a result, has an almost non-existent commerce. Successive state governments have, however, embarked on various industrial projects (even venturing into the oil and gas sector), and ‘poverty-alleviation’ programs to reverse this situation. However, some argue that there is nothing on ground to show for huge sums of money spent for development by successive and present state governments.”
But I am glad that the change the people so desire is now knocking at the gates of Creek Haven. I also know that my people will not allow this opportunity for genuine and lasting change pass them by if the events at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex last Saturday can be taken as an indication of the iron resolve of the people to take their destiny in their hands. The recent exodus of present leaders and great sons of the state into the APC, I believe, represents Bayelsa’s finest hour and I want to earnestly plead with my people not to allow the opportunity slip. I believe this is the time for Bayelsa to embrace progressive politics and so rise and truly live up to its sobriquet “The Glory of All Lands”.
When about a week ago, my brother and Governor, Seriake Dickson promised not to deny the All Progressives Congress (APC) the use of state facilities, if they request for it, I saw a politician with a difference. Did he really have a choice on the matter? He could not have stopped the tsunami anyway! The people own the facilities because they were provided through their taxes. They will use them when they need to utilise them irrespective of political affiliations.
Could it be said that Dickson had a grand vision on where he wanted to lead the state as encapsulated in his inaugural speech in 2012, in which he acknowledge the level of decay in the state and promised to redress them? But just like he predicted, the resistance came but whether he rose above it to do right by serving the interest of the people remains to be seen. His critics say that those who singlehandedly installed him never gave him the chance to successfully implement his dream of a genuine paradigm shift in the management of the affairs of the state. They argue that what his benefactors gave him with one hand they pried from him with more than a thousand hands. They also say that governance in the state took a back seat long ago as it has never been about how to better the lots of the people. But how to satiate the insatiable appetite of a supposed power bloc who see the Creek Haven as their rightful investment. Even the making of Dame Patience Jonathan a Permanent Secretary – a post she later resigned – was considered a flash in the pan. Nothing short of being given unfettered access to the common till was considered enough, they say. This is the bitter past which must now guide Bayelsans into our rightful glorious future.
Therefore the recent shedding of excessive weight by the PDP following the massive defection of its creme de la creme into the APC ahead of the December governorship election in the state, was a natural consequence of the nauseating level of bad and intolerable affairs of governance in the state by the PDP. Among key members of PDP that defected to APC during the mega rally held at the main bowl of the Samson Siasia Sports Complex were former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe; Senator Heineken Lokpobri; former Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr Imoro Kubor; former Bayelsa State Heads of Service, Hon. Obegha Oworibo and Mrs Gloria Izonfou; former commissioners in the state, Chief Lionel Jonathan-Omo and Mrs. Charity Vadalego; and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Stella Dorgu.
Others include: former NDDC chairman, Dr. Tarila Teepebah, Senator John Brambrayefa, Mrs Vivian Imananagha-Ere, Chief Fred Ekiyegha, Chief Alex Ekiotenne, Chief Ebitimi Amgbare, Capt Matthew Karimo (rtd), and Major Andrew Oputa (rtd.), just to mention a few due to constraint of space.
Most Nigerians hold that the PDP is dead at the national level. It must die at the local level as well for the real change the people desire to take root and fruit. The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was emphatic in his rhetoric while receiving the over 2000 leaders who dumped the PDP for the party of example in the state. The APC chief said: “Who is left in the PDP now? Nobody! The people in Bayelsa are making history for the South-south zone. The APC leaders in Bayelsa State are very loyal and fought gallantly against the false claim that ‘it is our own.’ When they overcame such false campaign, their eyes opened and they saw recklessness, under-performance, and failure. It was only Edo that survived their onslaught. Can we allow ourselves to lose out? When we vote, we bring back Bayelsa to the mainstream of politics.”
Odigie-Oyegun added that, “This is the first time a party is totally decapitated. The chairman of the PDP who represents the head of the party has left and the PDP is now headless. Anybody that is headless cannot survive,” he said. “We now have former deputy governors, former National Assembly members, former commissioners, former this and former that. Who is left in the PDP? Nobody. The People in Bayelsa is making history for the South South zone.” I cannot but agree with my boss, because I fail to see those who are presently clinging to straws in the Bayelsa PDP can outwit the now formidable APC political machine in the battle for the next governor to occupy the Creek Haven next year.
The Bayelsa State leader of the APC and former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, underscored this point during the reception rally when he said: “The PDP has been decapitated at the national level. Development was not brought to us during their time in office. The East-West road was abandoned. If they claim we should vote for the PDP, they should show us roads….”
On his part, former NDDC boss, Alaibe, simply described the earthquake that the hit the PDP in Bayelsa as the dawn of a new day. According to him, the needed change in the state is here. “This is common sense revolution. It is not change for the sake of it. We are changing from poverty to prosperity. We are changing from lies and deceit. We are changing from ‘Wayo’. A state as rich as Bayelsa cannot tolerate poverty. It is not our portion that our streets show poverty. How can one provide oil and gas and not benefit from it? Change has come to Bayelsa,” Alaibe stated.
Inokoba in his parting shots declared that the PDP’s administration under the leadership of Dickson had witnessed misrule and utter abandonment of good governance. “The labour of our forefathers has been rubbished. Bayelsa restoration has become retrogression,” he stated, adding, “Bayelsa PDP has become the ‘Fuji House of Commotion’. Instead of development, we have witnessed disrespect to the elders in the state.”
Senator Lokpobri noted that PDP in the state was dead, saying its funeral rites will be conducted during the governorship election on December 5. “Today, we have killed the PDP and have fixed its burial date for December 5. That date will not change. We are keeping a date with history,” Lokpobri said.
I dare say that the symbolic presentation of brooms to the new entrants into the Bayelsa APC, by its national chairman is a direct RED CARD to Dickson and his vestiges of PDP pretenders in the state. Let him start by packing his things out of the Government House because the people have spoken and will yet speak!
Ref: http://www.leadership.ng/columns/454610/seriake-dickson-gets-red-card
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