The North/Southwest alliance will
always dominate Nigeria
Former Governor Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, who is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Elders
Committee in his native Bayelsa State in this interview, reviews contemporary
political developments in the state and affirms that the alliance between the
North and Southwest will never benefit his Ijaw people. He also narrates how
late President Umaru Yar’Adua saved his (Alamieyeseigha’s) life among other
issues. Excerpts.
Do you think recent defections will
affect the PDP during the forthcoming governorship election?
Again, I think our people need to be
educated, I can tell you that I was one of them in 2003 that formed Action
Congress. At that time, it was becoming clear that President Olusegun Obasanjo,
was going to chase most of us out of PDP, so we came together. About 18 of us.
We said let us register a party and keep it in case President Obasanjo pushed
us out of the party. We can have a platform to actualize our dream.
Also at that time, Obasanjo had
cajoled the Southwest governors out of their seats. He deceived them. Bola
Tinubu was very clever, he foresaw what Obasanjo was trying to do, so he was
the only one that survived because the agreement was that all the Southwest
governors should all support him so that he will return them as governors for second
term.
Obasanjo’s election came first and
he deceived them. Obasanjo himself, very cunning, formed Accord Party. When you
hear of Accord, it’s Obasanjo’s party.
Severance allowance
Tinubu provided the secretariat for
the Action Congress, I, Alamieyeseigha, attached my Special Adviser on
Political Matters, Chief T.K.O Okorotie, to that secretariat to put papers
together. We invited Chief Tom Ikimi, to be the arrow head and he registered
that party for us. It is that AC that transformed into ACN and the present APC.
So, there is nothing happening in
APC today that I don’t know and they are the same people that are being
recycled. So, my people should not be deceived. Politics is local.
And the whole thing is about
self-interest. It is either they have not been given appointment, their
severance allowance during Timipre Sylva administration has not been paid or
they were not picked as candidates in the last general elections. Then I asked
the question, must it always be you?
It is not right. Leadership is a relay
race. You complete your assignment you hand over to another person. It cannot
always be you alone every time. There is time for everything, so basically that
is the problem. By the time we go into the party primaries all the noise you
are hearing will die down, because it is only one candidate that the party will
present. APC will present one candidate. APGA will present one candidate.
By then, they will better appreciate the political
environment.
The expectations are high because we
don’t have any industry in the state. Even the market woman at Swali Market
will tell you how much is coming into the state every month. So the only
industry we have in Bayelsa state is Government House. If you are shut out of
Government House for four years, of course, I am sure your guess will be as
good as mine. So, the struggle here is to always to be in government.
But what about the aggrieved PDP
members that were expelled?
Now as long as you are a product of
a party, the party is supreme. If you are a product of that system, you must
respect that party. If you sabotage the party, the party has a mechanism to
discipline erring members.
There should be no sentiment about
this. Some of them that were expelled did not do well. From evidence available,
they sponsored opposition parties against their own party and no party will
accept that. Again as elders, we have intervened and those decisions have to be
reviewed, and very shortly, too.
Working committee
We shall review them, the working
committee will sit down and review it on individual basis. Some of them will be
reprimanded, while some will be admonished. And at the end of the day, I think
the matter will be resolved amicably.
Would you say Governor Dickson has
done enough to deserve a second term?
Governor Dickson, has done well,
what I have seen on ground in the last three years in the state is very
encouraging. Our problems has been the continuation of policies and programme
of government. I served this state for six and a half years, Goodluck came in,
served one year, the remaining six months he was campaigning for the office of
the Vice President, Governor Timipre Sylva came in.
Of course I didn’t see anything
visible on ground, I am not castigating him, but you could walk from Igbogene
to Swali Market, I did not see anything that was added to what I left behind,
even to complete the project I started was a problem. I feel very bitter when
you come to government with good intention, you start a project for the good of
the people and that project is abandoned.
So that period I think was a
setback. Dickson has come in, we can now drive to places that were impossible
before and we can see changes.
Are you worried by the strong
followership the APC is drawing from the youths?
This state is a PDP state, we the
elders will not allow foreign bedfellows take over this state. An Ijaw man has
never been conquered, we would not allow it to happen. You can call it any
name. Weather they come from the Southwest, whether they come from the North to
conquer us.
If anybody tells you as an Ijaw man
that these people love you, it’s a lie. I know them and they know me too.
The South-west and the North if they
come together they will continue to produce the president of this country for
life. We have no hope, so we must consolidate on what we have here.
We cannot afford to fall into that
trap. We will perpetually be slaves to the bigger tribes. We should protect
what belongs to us, we shall not allow our young men to be brainwashed.
This country must be restructured.
We must practice true federalism, otherwise these people will continue to
exploit us. We had a President from here. They just decided to take it back,
and they took it. Is that the system the young people want to run into? What
will even the Federal Government do to you if you decide to stay where you are.
You are receiving allocation from
the federation account, the federal government is equally receiving its share,
what do you expect from them? Is it not better to utilize what you have
received and be able to be ingenious enough to attract investors to develop
your local economy, than depending on the federal government?
The whole thing is deceptive. What
they did not get from the 13% derivation, they are getting through the back
door through the local government system? There is no federation in the world
where local government is a federating unit.
Don’t be afraid, this youth
population you are talking about. They have leaders that control them. It is
like my humble self, going to Amassoma and I say this is the direction we are
going, which of my children will stand up and say no? They will follow my
direction.
How has it been since you left
office almost 10 years ago?
The Lord, Almighty God is Holy and
has sustained me and my family effortlessly. Though the challenges are always
there, but if you are serving God you don’t need to be worried about tomorrow.
He has always sustained me. I am not doing anything that is income generating
per se. I am also, not begging anybody for help. I am contented with the little
pension I receive. I am a man with a contented heart. I am always happy. My
family has not also complaining.
Little pension
This earth, where we are is a
workshop. So, it is expected we must pass through certain experiences in life.
I have learnt my lessons for good, a leader must also be capable of enduring
pains when it comes. You can never have comfort all the time. If what happened
to me, if it were today I would have known how to handle it better.
So many things happened anytime I
sit down and recollect some of these things I laugh over them. I thank God, I
would not have been here talking to you, I would have been a dead man because
several attempts were made to eliminate me. But thank God I am alive today and
I also thank late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who saw it coming and called as a
president and saved my life.
He said “Ganuwa Katsina” they will
kill you, if you think anything will happen, nothing will happen. He said weeks
after your death, your people will make noise. After, it is the same your
people that will send CV’s for appointment and that will be the end of you.
This Nigeria, don’t argue with any
body, if it requires removing your dress so to set your self free come out of
it. I did not sign any paper that set me free, they signed everything by
themselves, they took everything I had, I came out of detention with only N500.
Everything I had since I was born was taken away from me.
Even this house we are in now, if it
were located outside Bayelsa State it would have been taken away from me. They
couldn’t try it because they would not have been comfortable in it, my people
were ready to protect it. It is good, we are alive to be telling these stories
so that the younger ones who have not experience these things will learn from
our experience.
(c) Vanguard
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