Significance of April 15 to Bayelsa State

The nullification of the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa state by the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva was declared winner came to many observers of the polity as an epic disclosure. This is partly because of the imaginary nature of the opposition parties in the state as well as the leadership focus, dexterity and charisma that characterized the short–lived administration of Chief Timipre Sylva. Worthy of note was the historic coincidence that April 15 played in the electoral records of the state including the political journey of Chief Sylva especially when his memoir will be written.

With intrepid disposition couple with audacious and daring heart, his quest for the PDP nomination ticket for the Bayelsa state governorship election in 2007 to many pundits, was a wild goose chase: one opponent was a multimillionaire pouring his own cash into the race. Another was a loyal party man and a sitting governor who was expected to bring party’s ward troops out in force on Election Day. As expected, Sylva’s modest outing earned him the first runner up albeit with a wide margin. As fate would have it, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that won the election was nominated as the running mate to Alhaji Umar Yar’ Adua, paving way for the first runner up, Chief Sylva, to emerge. As it is often said, the rest is now history.

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The mournful looks and deafening silence that greeted the busy streets of Yenagoa, the state capital when the news of the appeal tribunal verdict became obvious were confirmation of the affection Bayelsans had for the young administration in the state. However, all and sundry accepted the judgment as a common sacrifice that all Bayelsans have to pay to achieve the much needed electoral reform that would guarantee free and fair election in the future. Therefore the case of Bayelsa was in no way indicative of any wrong approach to governance as critics of the former Governor would like to hypothesize. Rather, the decision of the appeal tribunal that annulled the election and gave the former governor a clean bill of health was a welcome development except for its attendant negative consequences in the momentum with which the former administration was confronting the developmental challenges of the state head on.

Focusing on the quantum of developmental effort that shaped Bayelsa state between April 15, 2007 when the governor was declared winner by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and April 15, 2008 when the election was declared null and void by the Appeal Court is no doubt a Herculean task. This piece shall attempt to give an overview of the approaches to governance in Bayelsa state within the period under review. Timi Sylva as a governor was a treasured commodity to Bayelsa and still remains so as the acknowledged PDP flag bearer in the re-run governorship election. Even the opposition parties in the state recently converged on the state capital and gave the ousted action governor a pass mark for spearheading what many observers term ‘developmental revolution’ in the state. Some examples will suffice: considering the challenges to peace and development in the state, the former governor was able to contain the rising national and international expectations of bringing about peace and tranquility to the admiration of many observers. In my previous article entitled, Hostage Taking: Lessons from Bayelsa, I chronicled the strategies adopted by the former governor in dousing the spate of hostage taking in the state. These strategies I observed, included; communication, consultation, training, education, engagement, rehabilitation, peace enforcement and non-payment of ransom.

The former governor’s mostly liberal collection of ideas about infrastructural development, youth empowerment and vocational/technical skill based education, agricultural development especially fish farming, gender empowerment and wealth creation, rural transformation, friendly and enabling environment for foreign investment, private sector driven economy, improved internally generated revenue, strict compliance with the Yenagoa master plan, fiscal discipline and reform, state – of – the – art health care delivery system and environmental sustainability and remediation are all sharply critical to the yearnings and aspirations of Bayelsans, the Niger Delta and the Yar’Adua and Jonathan led administration.

Those who have been churning and dishing out barbs and unbridled falsehood to the public and playing to the gallery have deliberately ignored the tremendous strides the former governor has recorded in the areas mentioned above. In their media trial of Sylva, they never disclosed to the Nigerian public that the governor has successfully converted majority of the boisterous and restive youths in the state into productive way of life through a well-thought-out Ministry called; Youth, Conflict Resolution and Employment Generation. The lingering question of youth restiveness has found answer in Bayelsa state – the facts are there for all Nigerians to see. In fact, the youth class has never been so empowered in Bayelsa like in the ‘ancien regime’. From the Chief of Staff – Government House, Mr. Samuel Ogbuku, to many cabinet commissioners, youths were given tremendous opportunities to serve as example to their peers. In a recent chat with the commissioner in charge of youth affairs, Hon. Maxwell Oko, he chronicled the journey so far to include series of training in ICT, Aviation and Marine Engineering in India, United States and Norway respectively. These also included good engagement plans both locally and internationally for all beneficiaries. Following the award of the multi billion Naira International Peace and Arbitration Center project in the historic town of Oloibiri, the state has scored another A in this regard. Bayelsa state is set to become the hub of oil and gas arbitration in Africa. Worthy of note is the state desire to take the lead in building the first ever Local Content Capacity Development Institute to increase the participation of Bayelsans and indeed the Niger Delta in the oil and gas sector. These are solely initiatives conceived by the government and driven and facilitated by Development Agencies of no mean repute – the UNDP.

Save for the Appeal tribunal judgment, Sylva would have made history as the first governor to commission more than sixty new link roads among other notable projects across the state within one year! He had earlier disbursed the sum of thirty eight billion naira only (38,000,000,000) to Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the speedy completion of the Oporoma road project that links Southern Ijaw local government, the largest local council in the state, with yenagoa the state capital.

On the international scene, the institutional frameworks that were designed and nurtured to promote good governance, community development, youth empowerment, transparency and due process caught the attention of George Soros – the renowned and celebrated billionaire who is reputed to have spent over 5 billion dollars of his personal income to developing countries. The global investor and philanthropist observed that “….Sylva is a man with vision who is serious about finding lasting solution to the problems of the state and it is to that extend that I intend to support him”

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The state today does not need a vision challenged leader. Developmental challenges in the state need a focus and dynamic leader. These qualities are imbued in Sylva. For instance, the planned industrialization of the state must not lose steam also the Central Business District (CBD) development that is expected to house sky scrappers to leverage on the state economic potentials should not be left for mediocre. Another factor that was going for the state was the fact that the former governor developed a leadership style based more on furthering consensus and consultation than on imposing his own ideas. Surrounded by Commissioners and Aides who enjoyed the sound of their voices, Sylva cast himself as an eager listener. Today Bayelsans are happy that despite the Appeal Court ruling that punctured their cruising vehicle of development in the interim, they are nonetheless in high spirits that Sylva’s party has seen reason with them to give him maximum support for the re-run. As the campaign train of Sylva gathers momentum, nothing seems perilous anymore as voters, rivals and the news media have fixed the position of Sylva as a man with enormous political will to deliver the good of democracy to his state. In my view, April 15 should be set aside in the state as Good Governance Day!

 

By Maxwell James

maxodaudu@yahoo.com

Kpansia – Epie

Yenagoa