By Daniel Iworiso-Markson.
The recent governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State was akin to a state of war and offers an object lesson on how not to go about this business of democracy.
The election which was postponed from the initial date of Saturday, September 19 2015, eventually held last Tuesday at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, the state capital with 19 governorship aspirants, including the former governor, Timipre Sylva and former NNDC boss, Ndutimi Alaibe as major contestants. Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and six others were constituted by the APC national leadership to conduct the election at which one of the aspirants would emerge as the candidate of the party for the December 5 election in the state.
However, that election famously ended in nearly unbridled violence as clashes, controversies and all manner of recriminations from different stakeholders, particularly the contestants, the umpire and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) became the dominant story with the hapless people of Bayelsa left to ponder: what manner of men are these? And are the gladiators motivated by the urge to serve the people or are they propelled by the urge and the prospect of yet another opportunity to set upon the public treasury with accustomed rapacity? And what did all this portend for peace, stability and democracy in the state?
The APC leadership in Abuja has since canceled the ill-fated primary election, citing irregularities, especially that the party guidelines were not followed as the process was claimed to have been hijacked by one of the contestants.
Media reports however, indicate a semblance of an election but it was null. A result was purportedly released which claimed that Timipre Sylva had won by 726 votes to defeat his arch-rival, Ndutimi Alaibe, who scored 4 votes. Yet a total of 1,502 delegates were expected to have participated in the election.
Giving a vivid account of what transpired on that fateful day, Edo State Governor and Chairman of the Election Committee, Edo state governor Adams Oshiomhole, accused Timipre Sylva of scuttling the election by inviting thugs to the Samson Siasia Stadium venue and thereby unleashing mayhem.
In a statement last Wednesday, Oshiomhole said Sylva actually threatened his life and those of the committee members. To dispel reports that an election was held as disseminated by Sylva and his supporters, the governor challenged Sylva to produce his Certificate of Return which should have been given to him as validity of his claim. Oshiomhole went further to state that Sylva threatened he would not allow the committee members leave the venue unless the primary election was conducted but which Osiomhole realized was inappropriate because that would mean conducting an illegality since it will be without due accreditation as required by the party’s guidelines.
He stated: “I was appointed along with six others to conduct the Primary election in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place on Tuesday, but somehow, thugs took over the venue of the exercise. They prevented the actual delegates from participating and accessing the venue of the exercise. As a result, we could not proceed with the exercise.
“The committee was virtually held hostage, including myself and this exercise was supervised, unfortunately, by one of the aspirants and unfortunately, the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylvia who said to my face and the committee that we could not leave the venue of the conference unless we carry out the exercise without accreditation as prescribed by the National Secretariat.
“The integrity of an election rests primarily on the integrity of the electoral process. Once the accreditation process suffers any defect, as they say, you cannot build something on nothing. Whereas all the aspirants agreed with this guideline, it is only former Governor Timipre Sylvia who rejected this guideline.”
He added, “To my shock, former Governor Sylva told me that we cannot leave the place unless we are ready to conduct the election without recourse to accreditation as prescribed by the party and of course, I was not in the position to amend the guideline nor was I ready to submit to intimidation. It then became clear that he had mobilised his thugs, and the thugs clearly in collaboration with the police took over the stadium, because the Police simply left the gates open.
“When it became clear that our lives were under threat, I had to call Abuja to prevail on the Joint Task Force to provide me with security to enable me leave the venue of the primaries because thugs had effectively blocked the gates under the instructions of Sylva”.
Oshiomhole said many people were apprehended with fake cloned Permanent Voter Cards which they wanted to use to replace the actual delegates and they were handed over to the Police.
But he said the Police released those who were so arrested and allowed them to continue to harass and intimidate, not only the committee members but other aspirants.
The tale of woe was amplified by one of the governorship aspirants, Chief Diekvie Ikiogha, whose account corroborated that of Ohiomhole to the effect that no election was held and that the venue was filled with thugs and cultists.
According to him, youths said to be loyal to Timipre Sylva invaded the venue when they heard that the election committee was planning to postpone the primary.
“ The thugs and cult groups invaded the venue and insisted that the exercise must be concluded in a particular way to favour their paymaster. The arena was thrown into chaos leading to delegates, aspirants and the crowd scampering for safety”.
Following the development on Wednesday, the APC national Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, nullified the election and rescheduled it till further notice. Alaibe had led 14 of the 19 aspirants on a walk out at the venue and took their case to Abuja alleging irregularities in the process.
Also reacting, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, denounced the election, stating that one of the aspirants, Sylva, held members of the committee under duress to declare him the party’s candidate.
“I am speaking as a concerned citizen of the state that this primary is not acceptable. In a situation where all the other aspirants walked out of the venue and a particular aspirant put a member of the primary election committee under duress to declare him a winner with the chairman of the committee, Oshiomhole, not present is a fraud”, he said.
But in his 7-point defence, Timipre Sylva has accused Oshiomhole of bad faith in his behavior at the primary, claiming that the committee chairman was on a mission to stop him from emerging the candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State. In an advertorial signed on his behalf by his Media Adviser, Doifie Buokoribo, on Thursday which cast aspersions on the person of Oshiomhole and indeed his integrity, Sylva insisted that an election was held.
The recriminations have been astounding and the language employed distinctly unparliamentary to say the least given the calibre of the personalities involved. The nature of the APC botched primaries has predictably drawn the attention of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party given its possible implications for the general election on December 5.
In a statement by the Acting State Chairman, Barrister David Serena Dokubo-Spiff, the party condemned the conduct of the APC leaders at the botched election and expressed fears of a recurrence of violence at the election proper. He, therefore, called on the Federal Government and allied institutions to wake up.
He said:” The Peoples Democratic Party, Bayelsa State Chapter, notes with utter dismay and disappointment, the disgraceful political outing of the APC yesterday, in the name of State Party Primaries. From all credible accounts, hoodlums, cultists and extreme criminal elements, engaged by contending APC chieftains, turned the event into an orgy of unspeakable political bloodletting. In the event, scores of innocent persons were severely traumatized physically and psychologically.
“What the world saw in yesterday’s mayhem, represents only a hint of what the PDP-led government of Bayelsa State has always known — many of the APC big wigs in the state are the real merchants of violence, venom and villainy. They are the same ones who, within recent memory, elevated criminality and lawlessness even from out of our swamps, to the precincts of government house. They are the same ones, who, without compunction, shamelessly aspire to reign again, albeit in an atmosphere of anarchy. What the world saw yesterday is only a tiny bit of what the PDP government in Bayelsa State has been grappling with year-in-year-out.
“The forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa State must be conducted in a peaceful, free and fair atmosphere. Every political party must put its house in order and avoid violence. The PDP as an ever-law-abiding party, enjoins all and sundry to be of good behavior and approach the election in an atmosphere of civility, law and order.
Our great party, therefore, warns all desperate politicians and potential trouble makers to desist from heating up the polity in our beloved state. Any person or persons, no matter how highly placed or connected, who persists in fomenting trouble, must be visited with the full wrath of the law.
He added: “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct all relevant security agencies to ensure that Bayelsans are spared the anguish of political violence and wanton destruction of lives and property. Mr. President must not be seen to encourage or tacitly support electoral violence and brigandage, and must therefore take appropriate steps to dispel the wide-spread notion that the APC is bent on rigging the elections and taking Bayelsa State by force.
“Mr. President, as undisputed political leader of the APC-led Federal Government should condemn the recent massive deployment by APC Chieftains of large numbers of hoodlums, miscreants, cultists and thugs during the APC Primaries in Bayelsa State. INEC must ensure that the forthcoming governorship elections in Bayelsa State are held in accordance with law and in line with electioneering best practices. There must be no room for cloned PVCs, forged International Passports, fake National ID Cards as was the case at the APC primaries.
“The Peoples Democratic Party Bayelsa State Chapter, is apprehensive that if APC aspirants in the state can mutually trade such wanton violence among themselves, they are in every likelihood going to unleash even more devilish attack on our party during the impending governorship elections. Needless to say, such an eventuality will not augur well for the peace and tranquility of our state.
The peace loving people of Bayelsa are left to wonder whether the conduct of the botched APC primary is but a dress rehearsal of what the APC plans to do on December 5, 2015. The contrast between the APC fiasco and the PDP’s showing was underlined by the Chairman of the PDP governorship primary panel in Bayelsa State, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose. On Thursday in Yenagoa, he took a recourse to Gallows humour: “as chairman of this primary, I will not conduct a primary that will be canceled and rejected by the national leadership of our party. I am here by the authority and mandate of our great party to conduct a free, fair and transparent primary. And I can assure you that I will not be whisked away from this venue like some people.”
He proceeded to conduct a peaceful primary which the incumbent governor Seriake Dickson won and who also used the occasion to announce that he will be running with his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd) in the December 5 election to further consolidate on his Restoration Agenda.
Whether the APC is able to pick its pieces together or not, the people of Bayelsa could not have been presented with a clearer choice: between the politics of progress and peaceful development and that of confusion, of a return to cultism, murders, mayhem and unbridled brigandage which had the misnomer of militancy.
Daniel Iworiso-Markson writes from Yenagoa.
