By Kola Animashaun
“Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them” You all must have heard that Jonathan’s “candidate” has won the PDP ticket for Bayelsa gubernatorial primary.

Just like he (Jonathan) was unknown when he won the Deputy Governorship of the state and came to be Vice President and subsequently became the President.

Seriake Dickson, the winner, was a member of the House of Representatives. He was said to have beaten all comers by 365 votes.

Timi Alaibe hitherto had been one of the popular candidates to beat; so was Ben Bruce. Timipre Sylva was shut off the race. There are others – Doukopla Francis Amaebi and Kolango Youpele.

Nobody expects the poll to take place because of the order by Justice Kolawole of the Federal High Court barring the party from conducting the primary election.

A group of so-called distinguished delegates boycotted the election and they issued a statement, “as law abiding party members and true believers in the rule of law,” that they would not participate in a process that was contemptuous of judicial order.

The order was probably not to the notice of the PDP members, who went to vote or they were desirous of steering up trouble for the PDP because, “Politics… has always been the systematic organisation of hatred.”-Henry Adams

The primaries were held amid tight security with armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and helicopter gunships deployed in Yenagoa, the state capital. It was to show the power of the Federal Government and to damn it all. The Joint Task Force (JTF) and anti-riot policemen, backed by the APCs and anti-bomb trucks, were deployed in the area to provide security.

Some junctions connecting the venue were shut down to human and vehicular traffic.

Two helicopter gunships were noticed in the early hours of the day hovering over the venue of the primaries to provide aerial security, ostensibly a clue to the tension generated in the wake of the disqualification of Sylva from contesting for the PDP tickets.

It is a pity that the PDP will put its hands into a matter that will mean contempt of court. It should do things that will make her a shining example.

Or is it that “Politics is perhaps the main profession for which no preparation is thought necessary”- Yoshida –Torajiro (1882).

Despite the ban by the court, Dickson, a law maker, accepted to contest and make an acceptance speech. He thanked everybody for his support. He promised to allow everyone to be part of the PDP train. The party, he said, had spoken and would start the process of reconciliation “so that our party can do what we are known to do best, winning elections fairly and freely.”

“Everybody will be needed to build the new Bayelsa PDP. It will be a departure from the rancorous past. We will now build a united and strong PDP in Bayelsa. We can together work as a team to secure our future,” he said.

It will be difficult how the Bayelsa saga will play out.

Esprit de corps

Sometimes in August, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-President of Nigeria went to Mombasa, Kenya to attend a deliberation of African Leadership Conference. At that conference he deprecated the treatment meted out to the former Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak. As a Head of State, he said, Mubarak was entitled to personal dignity befitting his status.

He was bemused. “Put him in a cage? It is not proper. He deserved a better treatment. This is not good for the image of Africa”.

For whose benefit was Obasanjo making this pious protestation? For Mubarak killing his own Egyptian people for protesting to demand for his resignation? For stealing their wealth? For wanting to perpetuate his regime? Does he forget how MKO was caged winning an election – free and square?

Obasanjo has taught us to take our ex-Heads of State like gods. Now I know what the military call Esprit de corps. Those who spend 20, 26, 32, 42 years in government are military men and that does not exclude Nigerians.