Day Yar’Adua anointed Sylva

Umaru Yar’AduaOn Saturday, May 10, President Umaru Yar’Adua stormed Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, with other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) heavyweights across the country to flag-off the re-run governorship election campaign of Chief Timipre Sylva. John Ogbedu, was at the rally.

If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had decided to conduct the re-run governor ship election in Bayelsa State only inside the Yenagoa Township Stadium on Saturday, May 10, when the ruling People’s Democratic Party (DPD) flagged off the Timipre Sylva re-election campaign, PDP would have definitely won it, going by the mammoth crowd that thronged the venue of the rally that day.

At the rally, there was a sea of supporters of the PDP and, in particular, ardent supporters of the former Bayelsa State governor, Chief Sylva, who was no doubt the cynosure of all eyes. Although the “mother of all rallies” started about 90 minutes behind schedule, the delay was, however, worth it, as different cultural troupes from within and outside Bayelsa State were on hand to entertain the ever-cheering crowd of PDP faithful. Probably, a pocketful of supporters of other political parties, who might have been at the rally to learn one or two things, savoured the sound of the talking drums and traditional tambourines.

While the crowd was waiting for the president, there was, indeed, palpable fear among some PDP chieftains who were overheard wondering aloud whether or not President Yar’Adua would physically grace the rally. Obviously, the fear was a direct product of the recent reports over the president’s health. So, when one helicopter hovered in the sky around the vicinity of the PDP rally, shouts of “Mr. President!” rented the air.

Eventually, when the former governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, now vice president of Nigeria, arrived at the rally, a thunderous ovation greeted his arrival. But then, this did not dim the crowd’s expectation of the president to “drop” from the sky onto the rally ground. Though the return of Sylva to the Government House in Yenagoa, as far as some political analysts are concerned, is a foregone conclusion, the presence of Yar’

Adua at the rally was also considered an additional tonic to the Sylva campaign. So, when the president’s convoy, and not the expected presidential helicopter, entered the main entrance of the stadium, the enthusiastic crowd literarily exploded in a exclamation of pure ecstasy. The president’s arrival was all that was needed for the rally speeches to begin to flow from the podium. From the Presidency, the Senate, PDP National Secretariat, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and other states, messages of solidarity came pouring on Bayelsa State and its governorship candidate for the May 24 election, Sylva. It is likely that the late Dr. Kingsley Mbadiwe of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) fame, noted then for his use of complex grammar, would have turned in his grave when Bayelsa State PDP chairman, Chief Rufus Abedi, opened the rally with his pronouncements.

“As far as I am concerned, other political parties in Bayelsa State are just wasting their time trying to challenge us, PDP, in the Government House race,” Abedi said, adding that since “Bayelsa State has no other party than the PDP, its victory on May 24 in this state would be overwhelming.” From Abedi’s speech to the president’s wrap-up of the rally, the central point was for the people of Bayelsa State to vote massively for Chief Sylva onMay 24.

All the speakers extolled the party and its candidate, Sylva, who they described in superlative terms for his impressive performance during his 11-month stay in office as the state governor. At a certain point in his inspiring address, delivered extempore, President Yar’Adua temporarily turned into a pastor, reeling out quotations from the Bible to justify his anointment of Sylva as the PDP standardbearer at the re-run election, which he said, would be won “again and again” by the PDP.

Corroborating the president’s optimism, the governorship candidate of the opposition party, the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in the 2007 general elections in Bayelsa State, Mr. Bethel Amadede, who defected to the PDP after Sylva floored him and others last year, also addressed the rally, pledging that “ANPP will deliver Bayelsa State to PDP and Chief Timipre Sylva!” Does this pledge surprise anyone? Of course, it will not surprise close watchers of the politics in Bayelsa State, where Mr. Amadede is currently in ANPP, but serving as the Commissioner for Environment in the state. He so appointed at the beginning of the Sylvia-led administration and retained by the state acting governor, Honourable Werenipre Seibarugu.

“The ANPP, as a party, is presenting as its candidate, in partnership with PDP, Chief Timipre Sylvia, in order to bring him back to power,” Amadede said. There is no doubt that the other contending party, the Action Congress (AC), scored a judicial victory over the PDP on April 15 when the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt nullified the 2007 election of Sylva. But, the chairman of the State House of Assembly Committee on Appropriation, Finance and Economic Planning, Honourable Alfred Egba, told the Nigerian Tribune in Yenagoa that “in 2007, AC managed to score about 10,000 votes, but on May 24, I doubt if it will score up to 1,000 votes!”

Even Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who the Senate President, Senator David Mark, in his speech, referred to as “Senator Isaac Boro Lokpobiri”, threw away his earlier opposition to the candidacy of Sylva and called on voters in the 105 wards in Bayelsa State to vote en masse him. As the cacophony of voices kept rising in support of Sylva, one question that kept bothering the journalists who covered the rally was: Why Sylva? They did not have to wait for too long for the answer to this question when Sylvia mounted the rostrum, amidst a thunderous ovation, and addressed the rally. He reeled out how he delivered dividends of democracy within his short time as governor and what he intended to do if he was re-elected.

“I will use the extra time provided by the re-run election to work harder for Bayelsa State. PDP has been the dominant party in Bayelsa State since 1999. Those who appeared with brooms in Bayelsa State only a few days ago will only succeed in sweeping themselves out of Bayelsa. The court said we should all go back and re-contest the governorship position. Why is the AC not campaigning for this re-run-election, but is rather pursuing injunctions to stop it?” Silva asked.

Thereafter, he reeled out his agenda for the state. This includes sustaining the peace he helped restore in the state. “Within six months after my re-election on May 24, my administration will provide uninterrupted power supply in Bayelsa State. I plan to celebrate one year of uninterrupted power supply in Bayelsa State next year.

“All ongoing road projects in the state will be completed. Water will flow everywhere. For these laudable plans I have for you, Bayelsa people have to make our president and the PDP proud by voting for me at the re-run election,” he said. As the candidate was reeling out his next programme, his erstwhile deputy, Honourable Peremobowei Ebebi, was busy nodding his head repeatedly in agreement with his boss.

Even the governor of Rivers State, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, who described his state as the “bigger and older brother of Bayelsa,” acknowledged the potentials of Silva and Ebebi in their short stay in office. Amaechi described them as “the best thing that is happening today in Bayelsa, a good reason they should be voted for again.”

There was also the inspirational speeches of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Dieprieye Alamieyeisegha, and the PDP national chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor. However, what obviously took Nigerians generally, especially non-PDP members, aback was Ogbulafor’s statement at the rally that “PDP will rule Nigeria, not just for 60 years, but over 100 years!” Ogulafor’s reason was that “Nigerians are satisfied with what PDP is doing for them.”

Honourable Seibarugu also drummed support for the re-election of Chief Sylvia. As the acting governor of the state, he assured the people that “the election will be peaceful as the atmosphere has been made conducive for all political parties in the state to test their strength at the poll. Do not waste your votes on parties that are not on ground in the state.”

As the preparation towards who gets crowned as governor on May 24 continues in earnest, PDP, which has won virtually every position that has been contested in any election in Bayelsa State since 1999, is most likely to retain its coveted trophy. To think otherwise would simply amount to expecting too much from the crawling opposition parties in oil-rich Bayelsa State.