One of Bayelsa State’s most respected elder statesmen is Engineer Charles Dorgu. The former Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority was the pioneer State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party and can thus effectively claim to be the one who initiated the successful participation of the state at the highest levels of Federal power for the last decade and a half.

As the state confronts the consequences of the recently concluded elections in which the party that it supports received a resounding local mandate but lost power at the centre, our Correspondent, Lindsay Barrett, discussed pertinent issues arising from this circumstance with him in Yenagoa.

By Lindsay Barrett

Now that the elections are over what does PDP being an opposition party in Abuja portend for Bayelsa State?

Going by the declared results the PDP has won twenty two out of the twenty four seats in the State Assembly thus maintaining its unassailable position as the ruling party in the state. I believe that this is a good result for now.

What exactly do you mean when you say “for now?”

Like any serious party that has gone through an election should do, we took note of and documented the electoral experiences that we encountered and we are now studying these to be able to improve our future performance not only in elections but also in governance.

Do you see the PDP sustaining its winning momentum in the state projecting the incumbent governor to a second term in the forthcoming Governorship election?

Dorgu

To a certain extent yes I think so! But it will also depend on whether we learn lessons from our experiences. We must heed the reports from all of our constituencies and make necessary adjustments to accommodate all the major stakeholders in the political arena. We must work hard to enhance the party’s appeal to the members of the electorate for they are the final arbiters who will vote us into power.

Governor Seriake Dickson: a second term for him now depends on how well his party deploys lessons learnt in the recent polls where it won his state but lost the nation.

Are you aware of the internal crisis in the State Chapter of the PDP, and if so what do you think of it; how can it be resolved?

I am aware the elected Chairman of the State Chapter of the party has been placed under suspension and that an Acting Chairman now exists. However, this is not an unprecedented circumstance and the PDP has a tradition of resolving such crises internally as a family matter.   I expect this tradition to be followed in the resolution of the party’s problems in Bayelsa State.

What can you say concerning the complaints that have been raised about a clique of persons who are being characterised as “the First Lady’s men”?

Frankly this is a subject that I find very difficult to discuss, however, suffice it to say that if the party finds that there really is a problem with such a clique it will find appropriate ways to deal with it. Those who tried to claim that their political activities and allegiances were inspired by their closeness to the wife of the President were probably being opportunistic rather than truthful. They must certainly be regretting their unscrupulous behaviour now that the outcome of the Presidential polls has undermined their claim. This is a problem that bedevilled the conduct of party affairs right from the inception of Dr. Jonathan’s Administration and as I have said before it is up to the party to treat such conduct as a family problem.

How do you explain the decamping of some major PDP members in your state to APC so soon after the elections?

Well let me make it very clear that most of the PDP members who have decamped to the APC since the elections are seeking to lead Bayelsans to eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. Abandoning the party that gave them credibility and the opportunity not only to serve their people but also to line their pockets for the last decade and a half is a demonstration of their dishonesty rather than of their role as leaders of the people. They are opportunists who do not realise that Bayelsans are not second class citizens in Nigeria. We have been members of the inner circle of leadership for the last sixteen years and there is nothing wrong if the time has come for us to demonstrate our capacity to be credible leaders in opposition.

How do you react to former Governor Timipre Sylva’s assertion that President Jonathan did almost nothing for Bayelsa, the Niger Delta, and indeed the entire South-South geo-political zone during his tenure in office?

While I would not want to join issues with the ex-Governor I am sure that he knows that he is being, to say the least, economical with the truth. This is not surprising, however, because he is bitter over the fact that when he was in the PDP the party denied him a second term as Governor. He has refused to admit it, but the party decided that his conduct of the affairs of Bayelsa State was disastrous especially because of his inability to guarantee the fundamental right of basic security to the citizens. Human memory is sometimes short but not so short that we can forget the excesses of his security outfit that was dubbed “Fam-Tamgbe” or “Kill and Throw Away”. His record of financial management of the state’s resources was even more distressing and his administration’s attempts to develop infrastructure were highly unimpressive. The ex-Governor can hardly expect Bayelsans who remember his record in office to believe that simply because he has joined a party that promises to confront the very issues on which he failed to deliver while in office that he has suddenly become a more competent and committed individual.

What do you consider major mistakes made by the PDP in the recent polls?

At this point I can identify five major causes for the party’s loss. They are (1.) A lack of appreciation of the role of the founding fathers of the PDP and the sacrifices that they made to establish the party as a national entity. (2.) The current leaders took everybody for granted. (3.) The party was overtaken by a culture of impunity. (4.) The party enshrined a lack of internal democracy in its affairs. (5. The party destroyed the main pillar of its existence – Zoning!

Could you elaborate on these reasons to explain how these led to the party’s devastating loss?

As one of the founding fathers of the PDP I need not say too much more at this point but several examples of these errors arose over the past fifteen year and each time the sitting leaders of the party behaved as if they were “headmasters dealing with rebellious pupils” instead of   politicians dealing with their equals. There is only so much that the electorate can take. We could not deliver on “security” and “corruption”, and so the natural alternative is the cry for “change”.

Do you have any advice for the incoming government and if so what would it be?

I would advise the incoming government to learn from the mistakes of our own party the PDP, and to respect all Nigerians and the Nigerian Constitution as first principles of their conduct in office. I would also advise them to be fair to all the six geo-political zones and to remember always that the World Is Watching!