DID JONATHAN ENDORSE GOVERNOR SYLVA

When we came in 2007,we met a state that ranked low in every imaginable sphere of development indices- human development, education, health infrastructure etc The statistics from several local and foreign agencies painted a grim picture- Gov Timipre Sylva

Since the conclusion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries nationwide, many of the Governors who emerged candidates at the state level have been working round the clock to consolidate their power base.

For many others who were clearly non-performers, they PDP consensus candidacy option was what saved them from imminent defeat.

Their fraudulent emergence therefore meant that many of the leading politicians in such states angrily decamped in mass to opposition parties to actualize their ambition to enthrone change. That was the case in Bayelsa, the home state of incumbent President and Presidential candidate of PDP Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

The case of the governor of Bayelsa State is a bit on the extreme. National and international media have been awash with stories about how the governor has elevated corruption to the level of state policy in the oil rich state. His poor performance have not gone unnoticed by the citizens of the predominantly Ijaw state as they have vowed to vote him out come next election.

However in the wake of the “favorable” aftermath of the PDP primaries in the state, loyalists of embattled governor Timpre Sylva have gone to town with the falsehood that President Jonathan has actually anointed Governor Sylva for another term.

There are several reasons why any discerning Ijaw man will find this political gimmick very difficult to believe. The conclusions can be drawn easily from the recent political antecedents of Governor Sylva especially in his overt disrespect, disregard and often celebrated opposition to the candidature of President Jonathan.

Close confidants of the President can confirm his frustration about the long list of opprobrious conducts of the Yenagoa strong man. It is clearly evident that the President is embarrassed by what is seen to be the bad news always coming from Yenagoa and is committed to covertly or overtly support any effort that can liberate Bayelsa state from the claws of bad governance. Cost what it may!

For those who do not know, President Jonathan and Mr. Sylva are from the same senatorial zone and therefore ought to be brothers. However insiders in Sylva’s government authoritatively revealed to the writer that part of the reasons distracting Gov Sylva are his huge investments into the failed anti-Jonathan movement.

When late President Yardua was ill, Nigerian was thrown into a controversy about the elevation of the then Vice President Jonathan to the position of Acting President. Sadly, it was Governor Sylva, an Ijaw man who spent billions of public funds to trouble makers to block the emergence of his elder brother. When that effort failed, Gov Sylva again went public with many allegations of false declaration of assets in a desperate bid to tarnish the image of the President and bruise his stop ambition to stand election.

Sylva’s destructive remarks against the personality of then Acting President are well documented by the media. Many Ijaw brothers attempted to call Governor Sylva to other but he rebuffed them.

It is on record that he did not utter a single word during the zoning debate within the Peoples Democratic Party. Rather Timpre Sylva was working surreptitiously with the arrowhead of zoning controversy in the person of the former military President Ibrahim Babangida, all in an effort to undermine his brother.

A clear case in point was the fact that a delegation from Bayelsa travelled all the way to grace the IBB presidential declaration in Abuja. Those delegates were sponsored by the Bayelsa State Government. When security reports reached President Jonathan, he like every Ijaw man was shocked at the betrayal by his own state governor at a crucial time in the history of Nigeria.

As if those were not enough,Gov Sylva never spared President Goodluck during his own campaigns in the state. He poured vituperations at the person and era of the President who was former governor of Bayelsa State at every opportunity. At a time, Ex-Vice President Atiku’s campaign organization used the quotations from the speeches of Gov Sylva to spread the propaganda that President Jonathan failed as a governor. How can a man be this wicked against his own kinsman??

However despite all the dirty politics played by Sylva, President Jonathan defeated his opponent Atiku by a very wide margin and this proved that he has very wide acceptance by the people of Nigeria. As if to pay him back in his own coins, Governor Sylva is now faced with an epic political battle which many predict will see him vacating creek haven.

While he was busy undermining Jonathan’s programs including the amnesty, he compromised development in his home, our dear state Bayelsa. He made very lofty promises at the beginning and delivered on none till date. He has performed so poorly that there may be a revolt if by any chance he stays in office beyond May 27.

Gov Sylva himself understands that he has squandered the trust of the people and he is now running like a headless chicken to plead for more time. One of the latest political stunts of his camp is to broadcast the fact that he has been endorsed by the President. The same President Jonathan, who he fought tirelessly, but who God in his mercy has decided to elavate.

Gov Sylva also knows the amount of damage that he attempted to do to the President’s reputation and these days he is often seen sending emissaries to the villa to plead with Jonathan to come to forgive him and campaign for him.

Those who know the mind of the President Jonathan are aware that he is an apostle of good governance and has promised that votes will count nationwide in 2011. The President will naturally use his home state, Bayelsa to set that example.

From every indication, if elections are transparent in Bayelsa State, incumbent governor Timipre Sylva will suffer a humiliating defeat that will force him to vacate creek haven. That is what a corrupt, wasteful, disrespectful and disloyal man like him deserves. He does not have my sympathy neither does he have that of any Ijaw man anymore.

Tari lives in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.