Military rule in Bayelsa
By Sam Omatseye

If you followed what happened in Bayelsa State over the weekend, you can appreciate why President Goodluck Jonathan cannot understand the meaning of honour. A gangster moment played out in his home state and his signature was all over it. He turned a party primary into brigandage. It was an act of shame and dishonour barely a week after he bemedalled many undistinguished Nigerians. Chinua Achebe, a literary luminary, taught President Jonathan a lesson about honour: he rejected his Greek gift.

A primary of his party, the PDP, took place in spite of a court order forbidding it. But that in itself was lawless. The number one citizen of the country and leader of the party sat cozy in Aso Rock while a full force of the military unleashed impunity in his home state to execute a kangaroo election. On the ground, he deployed soldiers and Ringim’s men, the police force. In the air, the Nigerian Air Force planes buzzed ominously. The water was not left out. The navy ships chugged on the high seas in full gear. The sledge hammer fell on an ant.

Was this the same Jonathan all those who shouted transformational president hoped to get? What happened was clearly an act of brigandage by a power vortex in Abuja with the president at the top. It had nothing to do with due process. It had nothing to do with fairness. It had nothing to do with law and order. It was a day of jackals.

It was an attempt to ensure that a candidate, Chief Seriake Dickson of the House of Representatives, became the party candidate for the governorship election billed for February next year.  The drama unfolded in interesting ways last week. On Monday, the ward congresses were scheduled to take place. All the delegates appeared. But the PDP sent security men with party officials from Abuja to Bayelsa, gathered material, pretended they wanted to pay a visit to the governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, but fled to Abuja.  No election happened.  The only party candidate who endorsed the charade was Dickson. The other candidates cried foul. The party top brass had done the unexpected: a brazen heist of electoral materials.

Consequently, the court ordered that the party should not conduct the primary on Saturday. The party leaders said the court order was illegal because an electoral act said nothing should stop a primary or election. But an electoral act is an act of The National Assembly, and it is subordinate to the constitution. The court is a product of the constitution. Rather than go to court to challenge the decision, the president’s men tossed the law aside and went ahead with the so-called primary.

They turned the state into a zone. People in the state could not move around in some parts and had to trek in others. What we had was military rule in Bayelsa State. This reminds us of a time when militants overtook land and water, and it was easier to take shelter under the militants than under government. Thanks to the efforts of the Governor, Timipre Sylva, who initiated the idea of amnesty, that story is in the past, to all intents and purposes.

But what happened at the weekend was the flip side. Militancy became the official act of government, a contradiction of the officers of the law acting like militants. We cannot forget that then Governor Jonathan of Bayelsa State once ran away from the Government House when militants came calling.

It is an irony that he should deploy official force to pursue the same as the president and commander in chief of the armed forces.

The Bayelsa crisis began after the president asked the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to disband the security outfit of the state. That was the quiet seed of the coming of the federal might to the state. That preceded the screening process, and it became a drama resembling the Baba Suwe tragi-comedy over the famous narcotics charge. The NDLEA expected the substance to come down but the watch became endless until the court intervened and said it was becoming too dark a drama for Nigeria’s appetite. But in the PDP histrionic, it was more enigmatic. Day after day came with the party playing coy in telling the nation whether the state governor would be cleared or not even though he had been cleared in Port Harcourt. It took the rally in Yenagoa over a week ago to force the craven party to say Sylva would not be their candidate.

Even at that, they went ahead with their impunity last Saturday to hold a primary. Why did the president not attend the event? After all, in January this year, he voted at the primary in which Governor Sylva flew high as the party candidate. He is the party leader in the country and also in the state. He should have attended to show example. Here again, the president played to form. He would not come out in the open but play the serpent by hiding in the shrubbery.

Analysts still wonder how the delegates were arrived at. The president, members of the House of Representatives – except Dickson -, senators, members of the state assembly and local government council chairmen, among others were absent. We must add that former governor Alamiesiegha was present. He is now playing poodle to his former lieutenant.

So it was a primary of impunity, and that makes Dickson a candidate of impunity. The Independent National Election Commission was not present. So, how does the PDP want to get away with the act of gangsters of Saturday? If they go ahead with this in the primary, would they do same in the election and make Dickson a governor by impunity, a chief executive by illegality, a chief law officer by fiat?

This is not good for our democracy. Neither is it good for Goodluck Jonathan, who has bumbled in about every task he has placed his finger. He was a barefaced dictator last week, and we have seen one case after another where he is acting the role of a sole administrator with a deceptively gentle face.

Yet another irony. While he deployed full force in Bayelsa, three persons were kidnapped in a Niger Delta creek in a Chevron offshore field. In Bauchi State, some persons died and several injured in a communal clash and two died from gunmen’s fire in Kogi State. The president was shooting in the wrong direction. Yet, in his day of honours, he bedecked his service chiefs and IG with national medals. Was he thanking them for the deaths and fear in the land or was it a case of ignorance? Has the President forgotten about Boko Haram?

This is tragic.  What Jonathan and the PDP have done is an ominous precedent for this democracy. President Jonathan ought to give us a moral explanation for this act of brigandage. If Dickson was indeed popular in the state and the party, why not set the process free and see if he would win? It is clear Jonathan is bringing Hobbesian and Machiavellian logic to this democracy. This is what many fought against in the days of military tyranny. The PDP chiefs and Jonathan remind one of misuse of power dramatised in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. A character spoke of “my false overweighs your true.” This is what we saw in Bayelsa. But the victim in the play replied, “To whom shall I complain?”

It has to be the law to which we must complain. Now, will the courts stand by impunity or by justice? The Bayelsa case is a crucial test for this democracy, and we shall see if Chief Justice Musdapher’s judiciary will rise to its impressive claims.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/columnist/monday/sam-omatseye/26984-military-rule-in-bayelsa.html

This should be on the homepage.

[b]
This is not good for our democracy. Neither is it good for Goodluck Jonathan

Fresh air? Abi na stench of death

Wow! This is a great write-up.

So Jonathan fled the Yenagoa government house because of militants (when he was the governor)? No wonder.

Hmmm, the hiding serpent, a profile is emerging.

Allow me join ACN to shed useless tears.

Seriously, Can any good come out of Retardeen

Charity starts from home. This is a shame. I honestly dont know what ACN has got to do with this

Jonathan just made abacha looks like a hero,he has become worse than obj when it comes to do or die politics.

GEJ thinks Nigerians are really fools eyi?, . In the village meeting, when the elders are silent and the eye balls stand still, know peace in on a journey! Can someone remind GEJ that even the devil who took up the snake for deception was found out eventually! His days are numbered I must say

Are u from the family lineage of chinua achebe?

Jonathan is a hypocrite afterall! What a shame!

A GEJ who can't conduct free poles in his own home is said to have won free & fair elections
Who is fooling who?!

In politics, if equation does not favour you and /or your clique you will cry out. They leave those crying b/c they are not better either.

wondering what the Alam/GEJ combo looked like back then.

it must have been really terrible.

I don't really care if chief seriake was elected or selected or whatever at the end of the day the courts and the good people of Bayelsa would have their say but making so much rants over the presence of the military and police shows this man heartlessness when it comes to the citizens  of Bayelsa state, who told him the citizens didn't welcome the presence of the military on the said date ?, if they drafted the whole Nigerian army to Bayelsa state, good, PDP can have their charade while we have our peace while they are at it and that can only be achieved if you draft in enough security there, army, air-force, police even boys brigade sef, if it'd help, with the number of militants these Politicians command no one should be against the number of security personnels in the state,

I am actually not that much against imposition of candidates at the party level, what is wrong is the disobedience to court orders, let us be frank with ourselves, Sylva is a useless governor and should not be returned by any political party.

Babasessy:

Military rule in Bayelsa
By Sam Omatseye

If you followed what happened in Bayelsa State over the weekend, you can appreciate why President Goodluck Jonathan cannot understand the meaning of honour. A gangster moment played out in his home state and his signature was all over it. He turned a party primary into brigandage. It was an act of shame and dishonour barely a week after he bemedalled many undistinguished Nigerians. Chinua Achebe, a literary luminary, taught President Jonathan a lesson about honour: he rejected his Greek gift.

A primary of his party, the PDP, took place in spite of a court order forbidding it. But that in itself was lawless. The number one citizen of the country and leader of the party sat cozy in Aso Rock while a full force of the military unleashed impunity in his home state to execute a kangaroo election. On the ground, he deployed soldiers and Ringim’s men, the police force. In the air, the Nigerian Air Force planes buzzed ominously. The water was not left out. The navy ships chugged on the high seas in full gear. The sledge hammer fell on an ant.

Was this the same Jonathan all those who shouted transformational president hoped to get? What happened was clearly an act of brigandage by a power vortex in Abuja with the president at the top. It had nothing to do with due process. It had nothing to do with fairness. It had nothing to do with law and order. It was a day of jackals.

It was an attempt to ensure that a candidate, Chief Seriake Dickson of the House of Representatives, became the party candidate for the governorship election billed for February next year.  The drama unfolded in interesting ways last week. On Monday, the ward congresses were scheduled to take place. All the delegates appeared. But the PDP sent security men with party officials from Abuja to Bayelsa, gathered material, pretended they wanted to pay a visit to the governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, but fled to Abuja.  No election happened.  The only party candidate who endorsed the charade was Dickson. The other candidates cried foul. The party top brass had done the unexpected: a brazen heist of electoral materials.

Consequently, the court ordered that the party should not conduct the primary on Saturday. The party leaders said the court order was illegal because an electoral act said nothing should stop a primary or election. But an electoral act is an act of The National Assembly, and it is subordinate to the constitution. The court is a product of the constitution. Rather than go to court to challenge the decision, the president’s men tossed the law aside and went ahead with the so-called primary.

They turned the state into a zone. People in the state could not move around in some parts and had to trek in others. What we had was military rule in Bayelsa State. This reminds us of a time when militants overtook land and water, and it was easier to take shelter under the militants than under government. Thanks to the efforts of the Governor, Timipre Sylva, who initiated the idea of amnesty, that story is in the past, to all intents and purposes.

But what happened at the weekend was the flip side. Militancy became the official act of government, a contradiction of the officers of the law acting like militants. We cannot forget that then Governor Jonathan of Bayelsa State once ran away from the Government House when militants came calling.
It is an irony that he should deploy official force to pursue the same as the president and commander in chief of the armed forces.

The Bayelsa crisis began after the president asked the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to disband the security outfit of the state. That was the quiet seed of the coming of the federal might to the state. That preceded the screening process, and it became a drama resembling the Baba Suwe tragi-comedy over the famous narcotics charge. The NDLEA expected the substance to come down but the watch became endless until the court intervened and said it was becoming too dark a drama for Nigeria’s appetite. But in the PDP histrionic, it was more enigmatic. Day after day came with the party playing coy in telling the nation whether the state governor would be cleared or not even though he had been cleared in Port Harcourt. It took the rally in Yenagoa over a week ago to force the craven party to say Sylva would not be their candidate.

Even at that, they went ahead with their impunity last Saturday to hold a primary. Why did the president not attend the event? After all, in January this year, he voted at the primary in which Governor Sylva flew high as the party candidate. He is the party leader in the country and also in the state. He should have attended to show example. Here again, the president played to form. He would not come out in the open but play the serpent by hiding in the shrubbery.

Analysts still wonder how the delegates were arrived at. The president, members of the House of Representatives – except Dickson -, senators, members of the state assembly and local government council chairmen, among others were absent. We must add that former governor Alamiesiegha was present. He is now playing poodle to his former lieutenant.

So it was a primary of impunity, and that makes Dickson a candidate of impunity. The Independent National Election Commission was not present. So, how does the PDP want to get away with the act of gangsters of Saturday? If they go ahead with this in the primary, would they do same in the election and make Dickson a governor by impunity, a chief executive by illegality, a chief law officer by fiat?

This is not good for our democracy. Neither is it good for Goodluck Jonathan, who has bumbled in about every task he has placed his finger. He was a barefaced dictator last week, and we have seen one case after another where he is acting the role of a sole administrator with a deceptively gentle face.

Yet another irony. While he deployed full force in Bayelsa, three persons were kidnapped in a Niger Delta creek in a Chevron offshore field. In Bauchi State, some persons died and several injured in a communal clash and two died from gunmen’s fire in Kogi State. The president was shooting in the wrong direction. Yet, in his day of honours, he bedecked his service chiefs and IG with national medals. Was he thanking them for the deaths and fear in the land or was it a case of ignorance? Has the President forgotten about Boko Haram?

This is tragic.  What Jonathan and the PDP have done is an ominous precedent for this democracy. President Jonathan ought to give us a moral explanation for this act of brigandage. If Dickson was indeed popular in the state and the party, why not set the process free and see if he would win? It is clear Jonathan is bringing Hobbesian and Machiavellian logic to this democracy. This is what many fought against in the days of military tyranny. The PDP chiefs and Jonathan remind one of misuse of power dramatised in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. A character spoke of “my false overweighs your true.” This is what we saw in Bayelsa. But the victim in the play replied, “To whom shall I complain?”

It has to be the law to which we must complain. Now, will the courts stand by impunity or by justice? The Bayelsa case is a crucial test for this democracy, and we shall see if Chief Justice Musdapher’s judiciary will rise to its impressive claims.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/columnist/monday/sam-omatseye/26984-military-rule-in-bayelsa.html

b]Thanks to the efforts of the Governor, Timipre Sylva, who initiated the idea of amnesty
This is a blatant lie dont give him credit 4 wat oda notable ijaw leaders like Edwin Clarke, Timi Alaibi etc did.


We cannot forget that then Governor Jonathan of Bayelsa State once ran away from the Government House when militants came calling.
Atleast he ran away, Timipre Sylva invited this same militants to live in govt house as the invited governor to run the affairs of the state.


The Bayelsa crisis began after the president asked the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to disband the security outfit of the state.
The security outfit was called Famou Tamgbe, made up of cultist/miltants in police uniform used as a polictical tool to silence all opposition to Silva's Govt

So it was a primary of impunity, and that makes Dickson a candidate of impunity. The Independent National Election Commission was not present. So, how does the PDP want to get away with the act of gangsters of Saturday? If they go ahead with this in the primary, would they do same in the election and make Dickson a governor by impunity, a chief executive by illegality, a chief law officer by fiat?

This is not good for our democracy.
On this we agree, but like they say dont hate the playa, hate the game, bro the game is still the same, Timpre Sylva got out played by a beta playa

the closest we've come to an election was the presidential election dat brought in GEJ and that of Okorocha in Imo state, d rest is gangster selection by the mafia's dat pull the strings of our elections. but seriously Dickson Seriaki? he is going to make Sylva look like our savior.
SMH Bayelsa is indeed doomed

Beaf:

Allow me join ACN to shed useless tears.

Chei, where did you see ACN out of all the key issues the OP raised? You are becoming more and more clueless by the day.

To analyze a simple article has become a problem for you.

Activa:

Chei, where did you see ACN out of all the key issues the OP raised? You are becoming more and more clueless by the day.

To analyze a simple article has become a problem for you.

Who owns the Nation, not Tinubu? Who owns ACN, not the same Tinubu?
"Key issues," my foot!

Beaf:

Who owns the Nation, not Tinubu? Who owns ACN, not the same Tinubu?
"Key issues," my foot!

I feel u. The same way
Thisday - Nduka paper - PDP
Guardian - ibru - PDP
Tribune - Awo/ Akala / OGD - PDP

What hell is wrong with Sam Omatsaye? Why was he crying for Sylva? He shouldn't tell us he is now the publicity secretary to Gov. Sylva!

Mr Sam thanx for your (some what false) revealing write up,but u never talk reach Ruben Abati.
The man (Abati) has shown us that all critic pressmen like you do is rant to be noticed.
My opinion though!!