By Elizabeth Chukwuma
Barely two weeks after the conduct of the last Governorship election in Bayelsa, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, under the Chairmanship of Mahmood Yakubu, a Professor, the dust raised by the defeat of the ruling People’s Democratic Party , PDP, sponsored Diri Duoye, a Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria and governorship Candidate of the party is yet to settle.
Diehard PDP and Seriake Dickson, the state governor and the party leader loyalists had linked the defeat of the ruling PDP Candidate, Duoye, to the lack mail of the former president by President Muhammadu Buhari in order to drop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission , EFCC, alleged Corrupt Charges against Dame Patience Jonathan, the Wife, and who incidentally was the former First Lagos to support to David Lyon, the APC Candidate.
The accusation is gathering weight by the day but the former President, who is an indigene of Otuoke Community , in Ogbia local government, one of the local government Areas that was said to have been lost woefully by the PDP in the state. Many had expected the Bayelsa state born politician to open up and state his own side of the case but had kept a closed lips. This may have given his critics the room to insist that he former President sold the state to the APC to get the Dame Jonathan , the former First Lady out of EFCC hooks.
Moreso, losing Ogbia, the former President’s local government to Party sources was suspicious given the fact that the former words are law in the local government. There are indications that he may have sent out his foot soldiers in the state to work for the APC Candidate to prove to Dickson, that he could not eat his cake and still have it back. But Dickson insists that the primary which produced the PDP Candidate was credible.
He noted that the endorsement of Lyon, the APC governor –elect by Jonathan, the former President as regrettable and a ploy by the APC to strategically take over the state to prepare for 2023 to take over the entire south-south geo-political region made up of Akwa Ibom, Cross river, Delta, Edo, Rivers state, Already Bayelsa , had fallen into the waiting hands of the APC, in the last governorship election in the state.
Even Uche Secondus, Chairman of the National Chairman of the PDP was said to have refused to speak on the outcome of the Bayelsa election which many believe was ostensibly to avoid stepping on powerful toes on the party and the APC government. The All Progressive Congress, PC, which the Bayelsa state governorship election would not take it from any one that the Bayelsa born Nigerian former President played a role in ensuring that the once Opposition party in the state humiliate Dickson supported PDP Candidate.
Garba Shehu, senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity , may have spoken the mind of President Buhari, when he disclosed that it is utter rubbish for anyone to say that the former President was blackmailed by Buhari to throw his weight behind David Lyon, the APC flag bearer. Garba, challenged PDPD supporters in Bayelsa to look for better lies to tell.
He noted that if the former President had supported the APC against his own party, the PDP , in the state, there were more than enough reasons for him to do so without the interference of the Katsina state born Nigerian President. He cited the frosty relationship between the former President and governor Dickson.
The Presidential spokesperson disclosed that the sour relation between the duo was enough reason former President and elder Statesman to work against the party,’’ if indeed he did’’. He would want Nigerians to believe that that the APC presented a better governorship Candidate which has the supports of people across the parties to sink the PDP in the state.
Dickson, may not buy the Garba, the APC government Spokesperson claim that he had a sour working relationship with the former President which cause the party the loss of the Bayelsa state . The governor had said that he went to the former President’s home town, Otuoke six teen times to see him in order to agree on a governorship Candidate for the party that both of them could hold hand present to the people of the state but no luck. an indication that the former President may have laid the foundation for the defeat of the party for refusing to identify with the governorship Candidate.
This may have given the people of the state, particular, the Ogbia and Nembe axis of the state that the former President was not in support of Duoye, the PDP governorship Candidate in the November 16, 2019, Bayelsa governorship election believed to have been imposed on the party Dickson.
Dickson who still feel bad that he could not deliver a state he had governed for almost eight years, believes the election was not yet over.
He has told those that cares to listen that the party will challenge the outcome of the election in Court , stressing that the ruling PDP in the state did not lose the governorship election which was characterized by violence and widespread malpractices in several parts of the state.
Political watchers would want Duoye and those pushing pushing to challenge the Bayelsa election in the Court of Law to for forget for now as he will never win. From Plateau, benue, Taraba, Adamawa to Kano states , the Court had stamped the victory of party Candidates that won the election in those states. The story may not be different in Bayelsa state, despite the glaring eveidence of riggings in the election.
T Duoye, the PDP governorship Candidate had described the Bayelsa election as the ‘’invasion of the state by ‘’security Forces’’. The people of tBayelsa were denied the right to vote for the Candidate of their choice’’, Duoye had repeatedly said.
