BAYELSA 2023: Diri, Sylva, Udengs In Emerging Supremacy Battle For Bayelsa Guber

Unlike previous governorship contests, the November 11, 2023 Bayelsa State gubernatorial race promises to be interesting, tense, intriguing and of wider participation by the electorate in the state.

To the electorate in the state, the contestants and candidates of the political parties and their antecedents are known.

The notable political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) parade the incumbent governor, Senator Douye Diri and former minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva respectively.

Other political parties including the Labour Party (LP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) also showed enough capacity by electing Comrade Udengs Eradiri, Binalayefa Joshua Osuluku Esq and Mr Waibode Subiri as their flag-bearers respectively.

Apart from Udengs Eradiri, who is an Engineering graduate and a former president of the umbrella body of Ijaw Youths, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), others are relatively unknown.

But there are two things you cannot take away from the majority of Bayelsa indigenes, political analysts and observers: their love for the choice of governorship candidates produced by political parties, and of course, their antecedents in the positions they occupy and their contributions to the peace, security and development of the people.

Following the conclusion of the primary elections by the political parties to elect their respective flag-bearers in the forthcoming gubernatorial election, the stage is now set and the battle already intense on who sits on the exalted seat of power in the state.

The battle is among all the registered political parties but the ruling PDP, the APC and the LP stand out as parties of choice with promising political manifestos to convince the electorate on the preference of who to vote for.

Based on the history of both the PDP and the APC in the state, there is this political belief that any person, either of the two parties, thrown up as the flag-bearer stands the chance of becoming the next governor of the state but with the rise in prominence of the Labour Party and the ‘Obidients Movement’ in the country’s political arena, LP is a party to contend with as a third force in the build-up to the governorship election.

Senator Douye Diri

The incumbent governor, Senator Douye Diri had emerged the sole candidate for the PDP in a primary held at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre in Yenagoa. It was an unprecedented turn of events for the PDP in the state unlike the previous governorship primary elections which were keenly contested among numerous aspirants.

However, there seems to be a lot of intrigues that may have played out in the party’s decision that made it easier for every member of the party to accept that the governor should go for a second tenure unopposed.

Speaking on why he deserves another tenure on an Arise TV programme, Governor Diri said his administration had made appreciable progress in virtually every sector of the state’s economy such as infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, sports, skills acquisition and human capacity development, adding that through investments in agriculture, various skills acquisition programmes and support for small scale businesses, his administration created jobs outside the state’s civil service.

Chief Timipre Sylva

On the part of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva was declared winner after the party’s primary election in all the 105 wards of the state. Sylva who was also a former governor of the state, polled a total of 52,061 votes to defeat his closest rival, Joshua MacIver, who got 2,078 votes.

Unfortunately, two out of the six aspirants in the election, David Lyon and Festus Daumiebi had questioned the outcome of the process leading to the emergence of Sylva as the winner of the party primaries. The duo described the whole process as irresponsible and criminal which was allegedly compromised and marred by irregularities and called for total cancellation.

This is an indication that there are members of the party who are not satisfied with the outcome of the process which seems to have already created disunity among party stakeholders especially at a time when the party needs to be more united in their political approach to unseat an incumbent governor.

Opinion has it that the former petroleum minister and governorship candidate of the APC, Timipre Sylva should ensure that the aggrieved aspirants are reconciled back to the party. If the internal crisis is not well handled, it has the capability of either galvanising or scattering the chances of the APC ahead of the November 11 governorship election.

Also, political observers believe that the APC, which is the main opposition party, might not get the deserving victory in the forthcoming governorship election as the party failed to pick David Lyon as its flag-bearer. The feeling was that Sylva has contested as the governorship candidate twice in the party but failed.

They are also of the opinion that Bayelsans are yearning for positive change in the state and are willing and ready to take back the mandate allegedly stolen from them in 2019. They believe that the loss of the 2019 election at the Supreme Court was no fault of David Lyon but the name issue of his running mate at that time, and the poor management of the ligation process which was sabotaged by some of the aspirants.

They also presume the fact that Lyon hails from Southern Ijaw local government area which has the largest voting strength among the eight local government areas of the state.

On the other hand, it is also believed that now that a former Petroleum minister, Timipre Sylva, who is the leader of the party in the state, had become the governorship candidate, the APC in the state has gotten a boost to engage the ruling PDP in a good contest.

Engr. Udengs Eradiri

Udengs Eradiri is not alien to the business of leadership and mentorship having held various political positions as a youth leader. He recently emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the upcoming Bayelsa governorship election. It is believed that the entrance of Udengs, who hails from Yenagoa local government area, somewhat changed the political calculations in the state as a third force to reckon with.

Engr Udengs ventured into politics when he joined the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) where he became the secretary-general and later became the president of IYC in 2016. He later became the commissioner for Youth Development in 2018 and was later moved to the Ministry of Environment as its commissioner, a position he held for only a few months.

Waibode Subiri

Waibode Subiri emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the forthcoming Bayelsa State governorship election. Subiri emerged winner after he polled 92 votes against his closest rival, Mr Tari Seisei Efebo who got 70 votes, with a total number of 165 accredited voters and three void votes. He is a Quantity Surveyor who has not held any elective position or political appointment.

Binalayefa Joshua

A legal practitioner, Binalayefa Joshua Osuluku, emerged as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), for the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State. Osuluku polled 151 votes to defeat his only opponent, Mrs Ebinabo Rebecca Doibo, who scored 111 votes, in a delegate election held in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Bayelsa politics is a serious business. Huge capital and material resources are invested into the murky game. It is yet to be seen how the battle of who occupies Creek Haven, Government House, will be fought and won.