October 01, (THEWILL) – With a few weeks to the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa State, political parties and their candidates are very busy campaigning at the moment.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have constituted their Campaign Councils for the election and they are already criss-crossing the state soliciting votes.
The general belief in Bayelsa is that the election is a straight duel between the PDP and the PDP. Senator Douye Diri, who is the incumbent governor and the PDP candidate is rounding up his first term in office, seeking re-election. He is the only PDP governor who was returned unopposed to run for a second term.
The APC candidate, Timpire Sylva, is a former governor and the immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Taraba State Governor, Kefas Agbu, is leading Diri’s campaign as the Chairman of the PDP National Campaign Committee in charge of Bayelsa State and he is being assisted by Chinedu Nwoko, as Deputy Chairman, while Governor of Gombe, Inuwa Yahaya, is spearheading the APC campaign council in Bayelsa.
Aside Diri and Sylva, other candidates in the election include Waibodei Subiri of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA and a former Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) president, Udengs Eradiri of Labour Party.
Sylva won the APC ticket after he successfully defeated five other contestants. Among them being the 2019 governorship candidate of the party, Chief David Lyon.
Many political analysts thought the APC would allow Lyon to pick the ticket for the governorship race pitying the way he was removed after winning the last election by the court. Sylva is believed to be working hard to reconcile with the other aspirants who rejected the outcome of the party’s primary election.
Both Diri and Sylva are familiar with the condition of Creek Haven, having once occupied the house. Diri and Sylva have both served one term in office and they are contesting for a second term. While Sylva served as governor from 2007 to 2011, Diri is serving his first term in office from 2020 to 2024.
Fear of Violence
Sylva and Diri, as well as their supporters, are already raising fear on the issue of violence as Election Day gets closer.
Last Sunday, the duo engaged in a war of words over allegations of spying and violence ahead of the November 11 polls.
Sylva claimed, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Julius Bokoru, that Diri had recruited spies to monitor his movements, but the second-term-seeking governor denied the allegation, saying the APC governorship flagbearer was crying wolf where none existed.
Sylva said this is according to a credible intelligence available to him.
The statement said, “Credible reports available to H.E Chief Timipre Sylva, governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State suggest that Governor Douye Diri has commissioned spies across the state, especially at the Bayelsa International Cargo Airport, to document and report Chief Sylva’s movements in Bayelsa and environs to some off-grid security architecture in the state.
“This desperate, illegitimate security operation is headed by a close security aide to Governor Diri, and the end game, as is known, is to compromise the convoy and security of Chief Sylva.
“This is to alert the general public and the security agencies to take note of Governor Diri’s strategy of violence against Sylva and the Bayelsa people with a special focus being Opu-Nembe.
“A serving Governor’s chief campaign strategy, naturally, was to reel out achievements and milestones, not investing in an orgy of violence. Diri should be commissioning projects, not commissioning spies.
The Contenders:
Timipre Sylva
Sylva is the candidate of the APC in the November election. He is going to face the ruling party in the state, the PDP and its candidate and incumbent governor, Douye Diri in the election.
His success in the election will depend on how he is able to manage those who lost out in the primary against him. Sylva defeated five aspirants in the primary, including Lyon who was the party’s candidate in the last election.
Aside this, most Bayelsans regard Sylva as a Diasporan Bayelsan as he is believed to be resident more in Abuja.This is his second attempt at contesting the governorship since leaving office as governor in 2011 and many of his supporters believe he will get it right this time around. Whether they are right or wrong, the results of the election in few weeks time will put that to the public.
Douye Diri
Diri came into office through a Supreme Court pronouncement and since he assumed office , the people of Bayelsa have seen him as an ‘Action Governor’.
In fact, if there is anything that is giving the PDP candidate confidence of victory, it is his performance in the office in the last three or four years.
He is seen by an average Bayelsan as an achiever who has done more than any other governor before him..
James Akpe, a public affairs commentator based in Yenagoa, said that Diri’s performance and the manner of entering office has made people to tag him as a ‘Miracle Governor.’
Akpe said, “His manner of emergence as the governor is nothing short of a miracle, hence, the appellation the ‘Miracle Governor’. In a surprise upset, the APC candidate in the election who had been declared winner, Mr David Lyon, was stopped from assuming office, barely 24 hours before he was to be sworn into office.
“That surprise ruling of the Supreme Court which upturned the election of Lyon ensured that Diri was sworn in as governor.
“Since becoming the governor, Diri has spent his time proving to the people that he is capable and has tried to earn their trust.”
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
