PRESENTLY, Bayelsa State is under a situation of suspended animation characterised by eruption of violence particularly in the politically fertile Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. The December 5 and 6 2015 governorship election was, indeed, declared inconclusive following tension between the two major political parties, the APC and PDP, and the polls in the Ijaw area rescheduled for January 9, 2016. While the mutual finger-pointing war continues, the Joint Task Force which was responsible for security during the polls has alleged complicity on the part of the PDP and the state governor, Seriake Dickson in the violence that torpedoed the election.
Of particular note in various reports was the visit by the Governor Dickson to the peculiarly volatile town of Oporoma , the local government headquarters of Southern Ijaw during the election; it is claimed that the appearance of the governor at such critical moment exacerbated the tension. Closely following the chronicles of events prior to the election, it was obvious that the historical stakes and political consequences of the 2015 governorship polls in the South-South state were phenomenal ; that both Timipre Sylva of APC and Dickson of PDP were going to engage in a fiercely contested election based on profound and painful antecedents. In fact, some analysts see the Bayelsa election as besieged by surreptitious echoes of a national contest as being the home state of immediate past president Jonathan. The former Nigerian leader is said to be deeply (and justifiably) invested in the victory of PDP and Dickson. It is, however, wrong for commentators and observers to leap to the conclusion that the
Relevance of the January 9 Bayelsa guber polls
By Solomon Adams
PRESENTLY, Bayelsa State is under a situation of suspended animation characterised by eruption of violence particularly in the politically fertile Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. The December 5 and 6 2015 governorship election was, indeed, declared inconclusive following tension between the two major political parties, the APC and PDP, and the polls in the Ijaw area rescheduled for January 9, 2016. While the mutual finger-pointing war continues, the Joint Task Force which was responsible for security during the polls has alleged complicity on the part of the PDP and the state governor, Seriake Dickson in the violence that torpedoed the election.
Of particular note in various reports was the visit by the Governor Dickson to the peculiarly volatile town of Oporoma , the local government headquarters of Southern Ijaw during the election; it is claimed that the appearance of the governor at such critical moment exacerbated the tension. Closely following the chronicles of events prior to the election, it was obvious that the historical stakes and political consequences of the 2015 governorship polls in the South-South state were phenomenal ; that both Timipre Sylva of APC and Dickson of PDP were going to engage in a fiercely contested election based on profound and painful antecedents. In fact, some analysts see the Bayelsa election as besieged by surreptitious echoes of a national contest as being the home state of immediate past president Jonathan. The former Nigerian leader is said to be deeply (and justifiably) invested in the victory of PDP and Dickson. It is, however, wrong for commentators and observers to leap to the conclusion that the
PRESENTLY, Bayelsa State is under a situation of suspended animation characterised by eruption of violence particularly in the politically fertile Southern Ijaw Local Government Area. The December 5 and 6 2015 governorship election was, indeed, declared inconclusive following tension between the two major political parties, the APC and PDP, and the polls in the Ijaw area rescheduled for January 9, 2016. While the mutual finger-pointing war continues, the Joint Task Force which was responsible for security during the polls has alleged complicity on the part of the PDP and the state governor, Seriake Dickson in the violence that torpedoed the election.
Of particular note in various reports was the visit by the Governor Dickson to the peculiarly volatile town of Oporoma , the local government headquarters of Southern Ijaw during the election; it is claimed that the appearance of the governor at such critical moment exacerbated the tension. Closely following the chronicles of events prior to the election, it was obvious that the historical stakes and political consequences of the 2015 governorship polls in the South-South state were phenomenal ; that both Timipre Sylva of APC and Dickson of PDP were going to engage in a fiercely contested election based on profound and painful antecedents. In fact, some analysts see the Bayelsa election as besieged by surreptitious echoes of a national contest as being the home state of immediate past president Jonathan. The former Nigerian leader is said to be deeply (and justifiably) invested in the victory of PDP and Dickson. It is, however, wrong for commentators and observers to leap to the conclusion that the
