Charles Ajunwa
15 May 2008
Lagos — Last weekend, President Umaru Yar'Adua visited Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital to launch the campaign for the re-run election campaign of Mr. Timipre Sylva. The event later turned out to be a campaign on Niger Delta Affairs. Writes Charles Ajunwa
Apparently blazing the trail for a resounding victory for his party, President Umaru Yar'Adua last Saturday flagged off the re-election campaign of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Timipre Sylva.
Sylva who ruled on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was recently sacked by the Appeal Court following an appeal by the governorship candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Prince Ebitimi Amgbare. The Appellate Court consequently ordered a re-run of the election within 90 days.
To this end, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has accordingly slated May 24,this year for the election. But barely 48 hours before Yar'Adua's scheduled visit to Yenagoa, an explosion rocked the secretariat of the Bayelsa State chapter of the PDP.
The explosion, which hit the office of the party's women leader, Mrs. Nengi Ebitimi situated at the last floor of the two-storey building, did a serious havoc in the secretariat.
The explosion destroyed the entrance door, window planes, ceiling boards, a television set and furniture items. Although no loss of life was reported, the explosion was believed to be an orchestrated attempt to halt Yar'Adua's proposed visit. But the President ignored all security warnings, urging him to shelve the planned visit. Rather, he visited the troubled oil rich Niger Delta region as planned.
Before the ugly incident, Yar'Adua had pledged his determination to grace the campaign exercise, just as he did in Kogi and Adamawa states, where elections had been re-run in recent times.
To demonstrate his commitments to the success of his party in all ramifications, he actively participated in his party's campaign programmes at Kogi and Adamawa States, the efforts which paid off in the end.
In Adamawa for instance, PDP defeated its staunch opposition party, the Action Congress (AC) powered by the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar. The defeat of AC, in the judgment of analysts, implied a systemic end to Atiku's seeming robust political stature.
During the Yenagoa campaign, the President was accompanied by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, the party's National Chairman,Prince Vincent Ogbulafor and other notable leaders of the party. They were duly received in Port Harcourt by governors of Rivers and Akwa Ibom, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and Godswill Akpabio respectively. He had held a closed door meeting with traditional rulers and others party stakeholders before he was air lifted to Yenegoa.
At the Yenegoa Sports Complex venue of the rally, Yar'Adua made a bold political statement to the effect that the AC in Bayelsa State would again lose to the PDP at the re-run election.
Other important dignitaries at the event included the Acting Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Werinipre Seibarugu, Senate President, Senator David Mark, his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Timi Alabe, NDDC chairman,Sam Edem and many other party stalwarts.
The President who was apparently carried away by the overwhelming crowd at the rally, restated his administration's uncompromising belief in the application of rule of law and therefore boasted of PDP's imminent victory at the re-scheduled election.
"I know this election has been lost by AC and won by PDP," Yar'Adua said. Yar'Adua also used the occasion to warn the restive youth of the Niger Delta region to turn over a new leaf.
According to him, the action of the youth in the oil zone has not only portrayed the image of the country negatively, but can also result in Nigeria's losing its eminent position as the number one oil producing country in Africa.
"There is a growing energy situation in the world and the energy demand is becoming worrisome. The situation has started driving upward the price of crude oil.
When the world press talks about it, they said it was due to lack of peace in Iran,Iraq and now the Niger Delta region.
"This assertion is becoming true. It is because we provided the world with the opportunity to do so. It is painful for me because we have the potentials to become the petro-chemical hub of the region," Yar'Adua said.
Yar'Adua also promised to release all funds that the NDDC is entitled to as spelt out in the NDDC Act. "We have set aside funds for the oil producing states of the country and in the supplementary budget, we will make the issue of power/energy, security and the Niger Delta region, a priority. The administration is doing everything possible to lay foundation for development," the President said.
Yar'Adua also emphasised his administration's willingness to tackle the massive problems in the Niger Delta. "The Vice President is leading the process of dialogue. I appeal that you co-operate with the vice president, the National Assembly and the government. This conference will provide a way forward for peace and I appeal in the name of God, I am talking from the bottom of my heart, it is painful that we could lose our position," he said.
In his own comment, the Minister for Special Duties, Elder Godsday Orubebe believed that Yar'Adua was God's sent to the people of the Niger Delta and had begged his people to give Yar'Adua the conducive environment to perform.
According to him, Yar'Adua is committed to his promise to Nigerians and the people of the Niger Delta during the electioneering.
"President Yar'Adua sees your demand for development as legitimate, especially as they arise from the fact that poverty is manifest in the Niger Delta in different forms - lack of necessities for modern living such as electricity, potable water, roads, adequate educational facilities and jobs for the teeming youth in the area.
"This informed parts of the President's speech to mark the nation's 47th Independence Anniversary when he said 'in the troubled Niger Delta in particular, we shall secure the region for growth and development while effectively tackling the original dimension to the problem," Orubebe said.
According to the minister, for President Yar'Adua to realise his vision for the Niger Delta, the people must ensure that absolute peace prevails in the region.
"If you must ask for your well-deserved development projects, you must shun militancy, cultism, kidnapping and all other forms of vices so that the needed environment will be created for the present government to realise its vision for the region.
"First, as a people, you must realise the fact that the vice president, the number two citizen of the most populous black country in the world, is your brother who himself was born into the Niger Delta problems and grew up with them and therefore knows where it pinches. Without mincing words, my brothers and sisters, I want to assure you that the Vice President duly stands behind Mr. President to squarely address the situation in the Niger Delta ," Orubebe said.
But beyond the rhetorics, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka had argued that the country would continue to tilt towards "a state of anomie" if Yar'Adua's government continues to pay a mere lip service to the application of rule of law.
Soyinka who declared this last week when he delivered the maiden annual lecture organised by the chief executive of Flomat Books Limited, Dr. Anthony Akpokene at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) in Effurn-Warri, explained that the problems in the Niger Delta were resulted from the "law of returns."
The world class literary guru urged the government to call a spade a spade as far as the problems in the Niger Delta are concerned. According to him, the problems in the Niger Delta have persisted because of government's insensitivity to the plight of the people living in the oil rich Niger Delta which gave birth to the volatility in the region.
It is the view of analysts that Yar'Adua's approach in tackling the Niger Delta's problem is a complete resemblance of the methods hitherto employed by his predecessors.
They argued that the much touted seven-point agenda of the present administration is a mere lip service, stressing that the situation has not translated into concrete developments that can positively impact on the lives of the abject poverty stricken people of the Niger Delta.
Therefore, they insisted that for Yar'Adua to achieve any progress in the Nigerian project, he must not only depart from the alleged deceit of past leaders, but should display a sign of sensitivity to the plight of Nigerians who are everyday grappling with numerous crises ranging from poor power supply, poor health, educational and other infrastructural problems.
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