The Destiny Movement (TDM), a non-governmental organisation advocating fairness and inclusion, has raised an alarm over what it described as ‘unsettling developments’ that could undermine the established principle of power rotation in Bayelsa State.
In a strongly worded statement on Monday, its leader, Senator Nimi Amange, the group said that the state stands at a critical juncture in its political history, warning that any attempt to deny Bayelsa East from producing the governor in 2027, would erode trust, deepen division, and destabilise the fragile balance that has guided governance since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
The group noted that, although unwritten, the practice of rotating political power between the three senatorial districts in Bayelsa State is a matter of common knowledge and has served as an established and acceptable format to foster inclusion and reinforce a sense of belonging among citizens of the only homogenous Ijaw state in Nigeria, with particular regard to the governorship of the state.
According to TDM, this ‘moral covenant’ has been instrumental to sustaining political harmony, and has served to assure the people in all three senatorial districts of the state that leadership is a shared responsibility, rather than the preserve of a few.
The group recalled that the tenure of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (now late), an indigene of Bayelsa Central, was truncated by his arrest. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (Bayelsa East) took over from him, being the Deputy Governor at the time, and governed for 18 months only. Bayelsa East continued for another five years under Chief Timipre Sylva, bringing the total to six years and six months.
TDM recalled that power moved from the East to the West, which ruled for an uninterrupted span of eight years under the charge of Henry Dickson. Following the same conventional formula, power rotated to Bayelsa Central, which will complete eight years by 14 February 2028, through Governor Douye Diri.
The group described a questionable statement recently credited to Diri that the next governor may come from the West or the East senatorial district in 2027, as an apparent show of disrespect for the propriety represented by the rotational arrangement, if not an outright call for confusion and anarchy.
TDM insisted that equity, justice and fairness must not be sacrificed for political and ethnic expediency, stressing that denying the Bayelsa East axis the Office of Governor in 2027, after eight years of rulership under the West, and eighteen years of Central, would perpetuate exclusion and create room for grievance in the Bayelsa polity.
It argued that to dismiss Bayelsa East from the calculus of governance would send a dangerous signal that agreements, even when conceived on a firm moral basis, can be disregarded at will and jettisoned whenever convenient. ‘Such a path does not lead to peace. It is only bound to lead to greater political division, mutual suspicion, and sectional acrimony’, TDM argued.
It, therefore, called on political actors, elders and opinion leaders within the state to prevail on the present governor to place collective interest above partisan considerations, and uphold the tenets that have sustained the integrity of the state’s political structure till date.
TDM urged all stakeholders to allow Bayelsa East to produce the next governor in 2027, insisting that doing so would reinforce unity, ensure stability and engender long-term prosperity in the state, while still upholding the sacred principles of democratic governance.
