₦airaland Forum

[size=18pt]The Jonathans and rot in Bayelsa politics
Written by Sabella Abidde [/size]


When in early January 2014, I got a call alerting me to the fact that President Goodluck Jonathan and the First Lady were not happy with Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and were therefore fishing for a replacement, I laughed it off. I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe it.

Goodluck and Patience JonathanMy response was curt: “They are not so dumb as to start another ‘wahala’ considering what they put the state and the people through…we all know what they did to Governor Timi Sylva.” Unfortunately, recent events and pronouncements have validated the January call: Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan have decided to replace the current governor of the state. But why?

And why is it that this President and his wife cannot act in ways that bring prestige to the Presidency, and respect to their persons? Are they not tired of derision, bedlam and macabre dance? Do they realise that their position is temporary, and that anything, just anything you may think of, can happen? So, what’s all these “yeyerity” and “gragra” by the President and the First Lady all about? I will come back to this, later.

In mid-2007, the expectation was that Chief Francis Doukpola would replace Goodluck Jonathan as the governor of Bayelsa State after being anointed the Vice-President by the outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo. At that time, not too many people in the state knew who Timipre Sylva was. Within the larger Ijaw community, Sylva was considered a neophyte. He was never part of the Ijaw struggle with roots in the old Rivers State. But before anyone knew what was happening, Doukpola’s name had been removed and replaced with Sylva’s.

There are two competing accounts as to how and why this happened. There are those who believe that the ascendancy of Sylva was as a result of a political arrangement between Obasanjo, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, the former Minister of State for Energy, and now the traditional ruler of Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa State, and the outgoing state governor, Jonathan. This account posits that Daukoru installed his political son, Sylva, because he needed the state government’s approval for his private aspirations.

The second account holds that even though Jonathan could have insisted on Doukpola, he did not push or fight the matter because, he quickly realised he could easily push and pull Sylva, and not Doukpola, who is known as a political heavyweight. He was right. In analysing Jonathan, many seem to forget that he was a disciple of the late Melford Okilo – a onetime federal parliamentarian, federal minister, and former governor of old Rivers State. You couldn’t be a student of Okilo, and not be adept at politics or reading tea leaves.

But somewhere along the line, both men misread their political Bible and became staunch enemies. Sylva, it was said, complained that “Jonathan and his wife were insatiable and wanted the master key to the state’s coffer.” Second, they wanted total control of every-and-anything Bayelsa. In essence, they wanted the state as their fiefdom. But of course, they were not the only ones wanting this and that and that and this from Sylva. The governor, it was said, did his best to satisfy major and lesser gods in the state. But after a while, he couldn’t take it anymore. He rebelled and attempted to assert control.

Sylva was very close to President Umaru Yar’Adua and his wife and to former Governor James Ibori; hence, he felt safe and secure undermining Jonathan. Jonathan, on the other hand, bided his time. He was angry quite alright, but he didn’t show it. All he did was pout his lips and growl behind closed doors. He waited and waited and waited some more. And then fortune and misfortune came calling all at once: Yar’Adua died, Jonathan took over and, and as the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would say, “everything scatter scatter” for Governor Sylva. Jonathan also saw to it that Ibori had no hiding place in Nigeria.

That Sylva was going to be thrown out of office, was just a matter of time. As fate would have it, he miscalculated by pursuing tenure elongation in the court of law. Had he contested the 2011 election (along with Jonathan and others) perhaps, he’d still be in office today. But somehow, I doubt that. Why? That’s because Jonathan, in spite of his many trips to churches and Israel, is not sold on the idea of forgiveness and redemption. He doesn’t take kindly to slights. And just before Sylva was thrown out of office, he was humiliated: he was stoned during a public outing with Jonathan present.

Before the stoning and the eventual ouster, something sinister happened. Jonathan and his wife played the “Good cop-Bad cop” game with Sylva. Jonathan was naturally hostile towards Sylva, while the President’s wife appeared friendly and understanding. But it was all a ploy. The governor was being played. During this period, how much did Sylva part with as gifts to Mrs. Jonathan? I doubt if he himself knows the exact amount.

During the election cycle that brought the current governor to office, Doukpola attempted a comeback. Many Bayelsans have argued that aside from Doukpola, the most qualified candidate was Dr. Godknows Boladei Igali, who was a former Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government and once Nigeria’s ambassador to Sweden. He had distinguished himself in many capacities. But he had one stumbling block: Mrs. Patience Jonathan. To the hearing of acquaintances, he was accused of being an enabler (of what needs not be said here).

Enter Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson! In spite of my best efforts, no one close to the corridors of power has confided in me what transpired between the Jonathans and Dickson (before he was sanctioned to contest and allowed to win the election). What are the deals he agreed to? Did he, like some folk, take ungodly oath to “always obey commands and instructions”? And did he, as a former law enforcement officer and parliamentarian, know what he was getting into?

My hunch is that he knew, but was too happy to pass up the chance at becoming the governor. As my friend, Olayinka Oyegbile, has said, “He was happy to replace Sylva, now it is his turn. The whip used for the first wife is hidden at the back of the door for the second…it is his time to meet the Emperor’s wrath.” Not minding how he came into office, I have empathy for Governor Dickson. The time to cull the excesses and ravenous tendencies of the Jonathans has come.


Source: Transparency for Nigeria
http://transparencyng.com/index.php/news-categories/106-opinionsinterviews/10749-the-jonathans-and-rot-in-bayelsa-politics

In politics if anybody cannot or will not work with you or do things the way you want it REMOVE THE PERSON FROM THE POST.
Bola ahmed tinubu. 1921

2cato:
In politics if anybody cannot or will not work with you or do things the way you want it REMOVE THE PERSON FROM THE POST.
Bola ahmed tinubu. 1921

idiat, are u talking about Tinubu that replaced himself with a working governor like Fashola? Unlike gej, who has made his own home state to be the least developed in the SS by bringing clueless guys like him on board and stealing the state dry through those men he imposed on bayelsans, Tinubu brought somebody that changed the face of Lagos.