Race Narrows to Real 3 As Bayelsa State Governorship Race Approaches

As the Bayelsa State governorship election draws closer, the polity is becoming increasingly heated up with all manner of lobbying, fake endorsements, accusations, propaganda, counter accusations, and expectedly, court cases as parties and candidates try to outsmart one another to push for victory.
There are three major contenders in this race to the Creek Haven, the state seat of power although there are 16 candidates in the race. Others are there probably to look for settlement or position for political position later.
Looking at the political permutation, no one knows for sure, of the three, who will coast to victory, by their assumed popularity or antecedents.
The three major contenders are the incumbent governor of the state, Douye Diri of Peoples’ Democratic Party, the immediate past minister of state for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva and the third force, Udengs Eradiri, who is secretly pulling weight unknown to the other two warlords.
For the sitting governor, Douye Diri, pundits see him as feeling that his works can get him a second tenure ticket without talking too much even though the state is not all that economically viable anymore as most of the business owners in the state have left.
His supporters say that with him in the saddle, the salaries of the workers are being paid which should douse the noise about him not reaching out to people financially. The governor himself had said over and over again that he was not going to share money in his administration. His headache however, may arise from the fact that Bayelsans feel that openings should be created for the state resources to penetrate into the state and touch all.
Diri’s human development package works on a belief that to revive the economy of the state, government should be giving out grants of N200,000 to about four persons per ward in the state’s 105 wards, totalling about N100 million monthly to small scale business owners. No research has yet been done to determine if the released sum got the real targeted business owners or is another form of vote buying?
He has to his credit, an attempt to further open up the state through transformative and ambitious road projects.
Douye Diri got to the Creek Haven through the help of his political god-father, the former governor of the state, Seriake Dickson who did everything possible including sponsoring about 22 governorship aspirants then in 2019 only for all to be made to step down for Diri to emerge. This linkage to the former governor under whom Bayelsans suffered, going without salary in a mainly civil service state, still raises ill-feelings, the anger that saw the people cast their vote for the All Progressives Congress new candidate, David Lyon. A court ruling sacked Lyon on the eve of his inauguration as Bayelsa State governor on irregularity issues surrounding his deputy’s credentials.
The people appear to be still tired of the continued leadership style of Seriake, the very reason why they massively voted for Lyon who clearly won the incumbent with a difference of about 120,00 votes. If this persists, the
However, recently, the voice of the political god father is not being heard at all with rumours flying t that Seriake has been warned of interference in the state governorship by higher political powers in the state.
That leaves Diri to be fighting by himself. So, by and large, the incumbent is banking on some of his achievements like some road constructions, the monthly financial empowerment, the peace that the state is presently enjoying, and the prompt payment of civil servants salary among others.
And for the immediate past minister of state for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, Bayelsans are of the opinion that he never brought anything to the state while he was the minister. They also accused him of using a security outfit then called Famou Tamgbe to harass residents and block perceived opponents even within the party, For those reasons, some still feel he may not be free from violence if voted into power again, although he brokered the peace accord which heralded amnesty in the days of militancy in the state.
For them, Sylva did not achieve much when he was the governor of the state from 2007 – 2012, even though he opened up the internal roads in Yenagoa, the state capital. It is on record that At least he constructed nothing less than 50 internal roads during his tenure as the governor but one basic thing that people are holding against him is that he runs the APC as his private firm.
Many are also not happy that Sylva abandoned David Lyon, the APC flagbearer in the last governorship election. There are also other APC members who feel neglected by Sylva some of who are now pitching tent with the PDP.
For the Third Force Udengs Eradiri, nothing seems to be working against him because he is just a young man of 47, a private entrepreneur running his business with over 200 persons on his payroll.
Once an Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC president, he seems not to have had any stain on his person and coming from Epie Attissa in Yenagoa Local Government Area which, has not produced a governor since the creation of the state. More importantly, the young man seems to be the only candidate out there with a cut out vision of what he intends to do for Bayelsans if voted into power with his PEAP agenda.
Laudable as his plans may be, however, the truth is that he cannot match with the two contenders financially. For most Bayelsans, he would have been a better option as he is said to be much younger, smarter and with a clear vision of what he wants but he lacks the financial muscle to match his opponents and Nigerian politics has proven over the years to be determined by money.
Although the incumbent is using state structures for his campaign and Sylva is exploiting the clout he accumulated during his time as minster and Udengs is just using the little he is making from his private business.
He also seems to be the only one reaching out into the nooks and crannies of the state. There is every tendency that he is going to give these two men a hot chase. If he does not win, he will definitely share most of their votes.
Bayelsans are beginning to be worried about the silence of the former governor Seriake Dickson who single highhandedly installed the incumbent governor. He has all of a sudden become very quiet.
Political pundits and many Bayelsans are worried over this silence. Some are assuming that he may be working for Diri or against him underground while some are of the opinion that he may be working for Sylva or Eradiri. But be that as it may, no information from him yet.
Also Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the father of PDP in the state has been so vocal. An unconfirmed speculation said that he has endorsed Governor Diri. Another story claimed that he is sympathetic to Sylva.
Only on Monday, the Bayelsa State NUJ with some civil society partners, hosted a governorship debate where four candidates, excluding Diri and Sylva faced the people.
Udengs Eradiri of the Labour Party who shone brilliantly at hte debate became the toast of the people soon afterwards. With Sylva out of the context after INEC delisted him in obedience to a court order, Eradiri now stands a brighter chance to challenge Diri in the final context. The court of Appeal had on Friday struck out Sylva’s application for a stay of the execution of the order.
What is certain is that the coming election will not be a walk-over for any of the candidates as all parties are working hard to ensure they win, including, those banking on federal might and an INEC that is yet to do the will of the people..
The resident electoral commissioner of INEC in Bayelsa State recently denied reports that he said that results will be written manually. He has however, denied ever saying so.
November 11 is the D-day for Bayelsans to once again, go out and pick who will sit over their affairs from February 14, 2024 for another four years.