Bayelsa: Is It Becoming A Glory Land or A Waste Land? -By Eniola Bello

Eniola Bello

The people of Bayelsa love to call their state, Glory of all Lands, a definitive nickname of what they think their state is in the socio-political economy of Nigeria, or an aspirational slogan of where they intend to take the state. Whichever may be the motivation, many institutions are named after Glory Land, including an estate, Glory Land Layout; an hospital, Gloryland-INRI Medical Centre; and a government lodge, Glory Land Castle, all in Yenagoa, the state capital.  For a small state like Bayelsa, majority of whose people have lived in abject poverty and deprivation for so many years, it is a tragedy of leadership that the governor’s lodge, otherwise known as Glory Land Castle, was even conceived in the first place, not to talk of being constructed.  At the best of times, it is difficult to understand how anybody could, in good conscience, sleep for one night in the luxury of Glory Land Castle, the official residence of the governor of a state whose communities are mostly surrounded by water and therefore inaccessible by road, and whose people are majorly rural dwellers who survive on fishing at subsistence level. With the prolonged and deadly violence that accompanied the just concluded governorship poll in the state, the Glory Land Castle in all its splendor now mocks the Bayelsa political elite as not even the waters of the creeks could wash clean their hands from the mindless blood-letting. Why should so many be killed simply because somebody wanted to be governor? Indeed, why should anybody’s blood be shed in the realisation of the political ambition of some people? There are five things we learnt in the poll.

1)  Bad governance: The massive electoral violence is a testament to the bad system of governance in the state over the years and the wrong choices of its leaders. Ordinarily, Bayelsa should be an easy state to govern. Small in population and landmass, mono-ethnic having been created essentially for the Ijaw, rich being one of the Big 5 oil-producing states and with a per capita close to $2,500, and consisting of communities that are almost completely rural. Between June 1999 and July 2004, a period of five years, the state received N125.9 billion from the federation account and another N15.8 billion for its eight local governments. If at that time, a proper foundation had been laid for its development and the right choices made, many if not most of the people of Bayelsa, which population is less than two million, would have by now been lifted out of poverty. However, the then Governor DSP Alamieyeseigha conceived of and began the construction of the Glory Land Castle at a time when even residents of Yenagoa had no access to potable water. Today, the governor’s lodge is a glorious metaphor in the castles of wrong choices that have made the people of a state so rich wallow in abject poverty. Glory Land Castle is a standing testimony of what revenue is available to whoever is governor, and like a coy mistress, beckons irresistibly to be possessed, with a suggestive look and a wink and a smile and a catwalk. Just as every womaniser assumes that the sassy walk of the seductress was meant for his single pleasure, every notable politician in the state assumes that the Glory Land Castle was built solely for him. And when challenged by another of his unscrupulous type, the politician loses control as the womaniser would lose his cool. Hence, the resort to violence, to kidnappings, and to killings in the governorship elections.

2) Dickson’s emergence in 2011: The seed of the bitterness that characterised the re-election of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson was sown in 2011. Then incumbent governor Timipriye Sylva was one of the politicians from the South-south that treated then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as little more than a political nobody.  Although Sylva succeeded Jonathan as Bayelsa PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) flag-bearer when the latter became running mate to then Candidate Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, there was an apparent mutual distrust between both Bayelsa sons. Sylva owed his emergence not to Jonathan but to Edmund Dakouru, then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s petroleum minister. Partly because of this and partly to be the predominant player in Bayelsa politics, Sylva did not give then Vice-President Jonathan the necessary courtesies and respect his office deserved. By a twist of fate, Yar’Adua died and Jonathan became president. In the cloak-and-dagger politics of the PDP, Jonathan did not forget and did not forgive Sylva’s indiscretions. In the PDP primaries for the 2011 elections, Jonathan brought Dickson from the House of Representatives and used all the powers of the presidency to install him as the PDP candidate. He did not even allow Sylva utilise his democratic right to contest despite the intervention of then Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s NGF (Nigerian Governors’ Forum). Having been forcefully kicked out, Sylva still had to battle prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). A bitter Sylva decamped to the opposition party and began his political war of attrition against Jonathan and Dickson. That bitterness was carried into the election and Sylva was very desperate for victory, which he would have taken as one not just against Dickson, but also against Jonathan. The remnants of the politicians in the PDP were equally very desperate to ensure that the APC (All Progressives Congress) did not win Bayelsa governorship poll as that could have politically buried Jonathan, particularly with a vengeance-seeking Sylva at the Glory Land Castle. The desperation on both sides could only have resulted in violence and bloodshed.

3) The character of Sylva: To be successful in politics, aggression is a necessary weapon. A politician who does not know when and how to deploy some elements of aggression in strategy, in tactics, and in communication, not for its own sake but towards a desired goal, can only put himself in the line of fire and may end up being bruised and battered. Sylva seemed to understand the language of aggression as an effective political weapon but always fell short in its management to the right proportion and balance. That is a fatal political flaw. Just as in love and hate, there’s a thin line between aggression and violence, the one positive and the other negative. Sylva may not have had any hand in the violence that characterised the poll, but then why do innuendoes, if not accusations of violence, always trail his every political activity. As it was in the APC primaries, so it became in the election proper – maiming, shootings, kidnappings, and killings. The answer lies in his use or misuse of aggression as a political weapon.

4)  The challenge of strong opposition: Elections in Bayelsa, as in other Niger Delta states of Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Cross River, to different degrees, had never really been competitive. Until now. Partly because of the inaccessible and dangerous nature of their rivers and creeks and waterways, and partly because the major political leaders always belonged to the same political party, elections were never ever held in most parts of these states. Whenever the political leaders reached a consensus on which candidate or party to vote for, that ended the discussion. Electoral officials were usually advised, for their own safety, to stay in the state capital and a few urban centres. Then from the creeks and inaccessible riverine communities, ballot papers were thumb-printed and humongous figures declared. There were polling units and wards where all the voters that registered incredibly voted for one party. Since the key politicians were members of the same party, the electoral heists were always celebrated with a party and a thanksgiving. In this other election just concluded, the script was rewritten. There are key politicians in different parties and every one of them had to fight for his party’s flag. And the card readers had made it impossible for all the registered voters to “vote.” Only accredited voters had access to the ballots and that made it impossible to collate and declare bogus figures. Although violence had always been part of Bayelsa polls, in this last poll the intensity increased because the sponsors and managers and actors are, unlike in the past, in different political camps.

5) And the militants: Long before the kidnappings for ransom, before the vandalism of oil pipelines and the bombings of oil rigs, before the toughening of the generals and the commanders of different Niger Delta cells in the creeks, there were the miscreants and thugs armed by some politicians to intimidate political opponents. The political thugs of yesterday graduated into the self-appointed generals of Niger Delta militancy. Despite the amnesty programme, there is still a symbiotic relationship that made it not particularly difficult for some politicians to unleash violence and bloodshed in the polls.

In the heat of the contest, Dickson was caught shedding tears while mourning the death of some 20 people killed. Having been declared winner, there are likely to be all kinds of champagne parties and thanksgiving services. However, in this his second and final term, Dickson should work his ass off so as to lift the generality of Bayelsans out of poverty, ensure the transformation of the state with the allocation from their rich oil and gas reserves, and make sure the almost $2,500 per capita is reflected in the quality of lives of the people. That is the only way the ghosts of those who lost their lives in this election would rest in peace and not haunt the occupants of Glory Land Castle. That way, Bayelsa rather than being a waste land it is today, may move in the direction of its aspirational slogan of being the Glory of all Lands.