ByKassim Afegbua
There are so many issues begging for attention in Nigeria on a daily basis as a result of our peculiar configuration. In the fullness of all the issues that have occupied public space in recent times, we do not seem to be paying attention to details. The Bayelsa politics of old has been one characterized by fraud and corruption since 1999 till date.

It took the centre-stage in Nigeria socio-political discourse during the Obasanjo years and got undiluted attention from those who never wanted to miss a line in the full text of the drama. The news from Bayelsa has not been one that could be considered exemplary by every standard. It is simply news of corruption and outright political brigandage.

Politics has its own very funny contradictions. Curiously though, it is becoming manifest that only those who are known to be advocates of contradictions that thrive well in the game. Imagine Timi Alaibe, former candidate of the Labour Party now assuming the role of a campaigner-in-chief for Seriake Dickson.

Where have all the ideological motivation that initially propelled him into entering the race gone to? Does Timi Alaibe want to have us believe that he never asked to become Governor of Bayelsa but was just being used to fight Timipreye Sylva? For ease of convenience, all the sweet memories of his blueprint have suddenly capitulated under the wave of the PDP’s infectious umbrella. Labour Party has simply ended its road show in Bayelsa.

So much for personality politics. President Goodluck Jonathan was another product of contradiction, but today, he is the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

At the nadir of the zoning debate, he had reportedly denied the existence of zoning in the PDP Constitution until the section was pointed out to him and his number on the attendance list was graciously published for all to see. Despite that, he gave his own interpretation of the law, and the rest as they say, is now bunkum.

A friend of mine asked me earlier in the week why is it difficult for good men to be in politics? With a mind on all manners of characters that have taken over the political space, my friend was expressing genuine worries about the decline in morality amongst those who stand for elections. I had asked if his conclusion was not going to suffer fallacy of over generalization, he nodded in the non-affirmative, pointing out that those who are in authority are simply not the best of mortals that we could parade in the country.

And that the thought of seeing real good men participate in politics was bothering his inner sensibilities that he feels strongly that something must be done to arrest the drift. Using Bayelsa State as the Guinea pig, politics and political undertakings in Nigeria has simply gone brutish and uncivilized, with raw power taking over the stage of credible discourse.

Few months ago, the Presidency issued a statement denying the involvement of President Jonathan in the domestic politics of Bayelsa State especially in the wake of the sudden emergence of Seriake Dickson as governorship hopeful. While the altercations were going on, the anointed candidate Seriake Dickson suddenly emerged from a primary that has become subject of litigation till date. On Friday, 3rd February, 2012, at the expanded campaigns for Seriake Dickson, the President told Bayelsans why the machinery was deployed to unseat Timipreye Sylva, saying that the ex-Governor was stoned during one of his [President’s] visits.

Quoting copiously from the President’s own statement, there is so much of pettiness here. In one specific reference, President Jonathan raised concern over the moribund proposed 5-star Tower Hotel which was conceptualized by Alamieyesegha when he was second in command.

Sylva’s sin according to President Jonathan, was that he abandoned the project. What struck my mentality was who would have been in a better position to complete the Hotel, President Jonathan, of course. He was second in command when the idea was conceptualized and later became first-in-command, later became Vice President and now President. If the need for the hotel was that urgent and desirable as espoused by President Jonathan, why did he not build and complete the project in record time when he called the shots in Bayelsa State?

For him to come years later to accuse his successor of abandoning a project that he could not complete, amounts to being clever by half. Even as President, he has all it takes to help Bayelsans accomplish their dream if the hotel was considered that useful.

There is something we are not paying attention to here; and that is Sylva’s allegation that the Contractor who was chosen by President Jonathan demanded for N5billion variation.

My God, the way politicians call these monies often compounds one’s imagination. Another allegation is that the contractor handling the Hotel construction is building a house for President Jonathan. All these are weighty allegations that require the intervention of a serious anti-corruption agency to unravel the veracity, but are we paying attention to details? I think the President was not properly advised before he embarked on the Bayelsa journey. Wanting to please his home crowd, he ended up exposing the guilt edge of history; why on earth would the President suddenly turn away from Sylva less than a year that he graciously endorsed him with mouth watering encomiums at the PDP January 2011 primaries? What would have warranted such condescension into joining issues with his subordinate to the extent that the President of this great country Nigeria is being called a LIAR?

This verbiage is more than an interlocutory injunction and must be taken very seriously. If the President is a liar, then why would anyone crucify those who lie everyday to make one impression or the other? For raising concerns over the Tower Hotel, the EFCC should help Nigerians by looking into it very urgently.

Still talking about old methods; a new Police Commissioner was posted to Bayelsa State in the wake of recent political bottled-up anger over who takes charge of the state. This to me is sheer show of raw power. I thought in line with the spirit of transformation, old things have passed away but alas! This latest dimension to the scenario playing out in Bayelsa State is dubiously offensive.

The moral fibre of a President is eternally very instructive as the office he occupies. When his person and character are put to question, it removes so much from the leadership content of the President. I do not think the President would just maintain mum over the incident of calling him a liar, such sledge hammer noun. The President must prove us wrong that he is not a liar and that his transformational leadership mantra is not one anchored on lies and subterfuge.

The entire Bayelsa scenario is one anchored on a platter of inconsistency and fraud. From day one till date, the State has been oscillating from one bizarre political drama to another. President Jonathan seems to have learnt faster from his mentor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who hounded out Chief Deprieye Alamieyesegha in Hollywood-styled political drama. It is now the turn of President Jonathan to mete out Obasanjo’s treatment on Timiprieye Sylva. Bayelsa has been in the news for the wrong reasons since 1999. The political atmosphere in that State has been one that has exposed the greed of individuals and corruption of the processes.

All the avoidable crises have been a product of ego trip and sheer pettiness. In a country where the elected representatives show a marked concern for the plights of the people especially in the light of daunting challenges, where will one derive the opportunity and time to get enrolled in the school for scandal? But ours is a society where we tolerate bestiality and even get awards for doing the wrong thing.

With presidential declaration on why ex-Governor Sylva had to be moved against, there is no need for us to suspect where Seriake Dickson was getting his valve from. And with such presidential weight on a small State like Bayelsa, the results of the election would have been foretold, except that it does not leave us with good smell in the mouth under a transformational leadership orientation.

It is obvious that INEC will be muscled out in the entire exercise to make an impression that federal might is as potent as undiluted brandy or ogogoro. And victory, the ultimate elixir, will be celebrated in such patronizing cadence “as the triumph of democracy”.

Drums of victory will rent the air in such ostentatious manner to becloud the real issues which the process ought to address. With several allegations of corruption and abuse of power being hurled at the president, in other saner societies, the anti-corruption would have swung into action to investigate them but under a system where the EFCC Chairman is still awaiting approval of his appointment, your guess is as good as mine.

Bayelsa is just a metaphor for our collective political brigandage. With poverty walking on the streets of Bayelsa State nay Nigeria, with corruption starring at us with commanding tones, with insecurity becoming a symbol of a failed system, coupled with alarming rate of unemployment, Nigeria is surely in trouble. Getting out of such trouble will require more than courage and patriotism; it will more depend on how much of time the President is able to spend on serious issues and not who becomes what candidate or the other.

Rather than spend tax-payers money on PDP campaigns alone, thus making creating uneven playing field, the president should simply tell INEC to keep announcing results in favour of PDP and save us the orgy of political campaigns that have become uninteresting.

For visiting Bayelsa alone, thousands of our security personnel were reportedly emptied into the State to provide security. A government that is driven by the people should be a motivation for those in authority and not a forced marriage of inconveniences. God save Bayelsa, God save Nigeria.