Your Excellency, I am waiting for everyone to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) so I can pick up its gubernatorial ticket in the next elections.
Please don’t laugh. Even the spirit of Melford Okilo will agree with me. In fact, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha would declare that, going by the rotational arrangement agreed upon, the next Governor of Bayelsa State should come from Bayelsa East Senatorial District, with particular regard to Nembe. I happen to be a noble son of Nembe. I have a strong feeling that I am the next Governor of our dear state!
One of the first things I will do when I become governor is to ban potholes along every road. There shall be no potholes in my government. There shall be no gutter clogged with debris. The drainage system shall be excellent. Under my government, I will ensure that every portion of grass is maintained like the open vales in the British countryside. I will also consider it a priority to complete work on the five-star international hotel and conference centre which, even as we speak, stands like a forlorn scare-crow against the Yenagoa skyline.
If I were governor, by now I would have told Donald Trump that he should feel free to recognise Biafra, but he should do well to exclude the people of the Niger Delta from that suspicious map. We are not people of Biafra. We are sons and daughters of the swamp. We are a different breed. The mangrove trees testify to our essence, and so does the changing tide. The spirit of Isaac Boro would be my witness.
Let me be frank with you, Your Excellency. I have two heroes of Bayelsa politics today, apart from Goodluck Jonathan and Alamieyeseigha. And you are not one of them. Hold your peace. Don’t take offence. I merely hold a mirror to your face. Every word I spell out here is verifiable. Do well to consider the alternative viewpoint of one more citizen. We don’t all have to agree with you all the time.
As a matter of fact, I protest your defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress. (APC) Let it be on record that at least one citizen protested. I hereby protest. It is all too clear to me now that you are just one more politician. Your inordinate switch of loyalty smacks of betrayal. You brought us a long way to believe that you are a man of your word, only to renege in the end.
Frankly, I felt comforted when I read the leading news of the day to the effect that you had given your deputy the liberty to remain where he was, and not defect to the ruling party. Thank you for pacifying Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said I. Let the man stay put. Democracy is about choice. If I were in his position, I would do the same. I would remain a member of the party that brought me to office in two successive elections.
I have no reason whatsoever to cross over, just because everyone was defecting to the other side. Someone has to balance the boat. If the APC wants to occupy Creek Haven, they should wait for the next elections. 2028 is not far away. And the good thing about you is that your projects speak for you. There was nothing to worry about. Even President Bola Tinubu, in his historic broadcast of June 12 last year, stated categorically that you are not under obligation to join the APC. Nigeria doesn’t have to be a one-party state. I clapped for him.
Your Excellency, I am happy that I whispered to you not to leave the PDP. I am not the only son of Bayelsa who protested openly about what you did on 3 October 2025. As I said, I have two newfound heroes of Bayelsa politics on my list. One of them is Senator Henry Seriake Dickson. The other is Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo of blessed memory. I count them as men of character, men who kept to their word. Their example is worth emulating.
All my sensors come awake when I hear Dickson speaking in the red chamber of the Senate. He is as voluble as he should be, and he is well equipped with the right theatrics to go with his passion. He is sufficiently enlightened about governance in Nigeria. He ranks as the first son of the state who broke the two-tenure jinx, and handed the baton over to you.
Consider the question he raised in the days leading to your defection. What is pursuing you? Why don’t you brave the odds, whatever they may be, the way Alamieyeseigha did when he was hounded out of office? What is it about the proclamation of Adams Oshiomhole that if you cross over to the APC, all your sins shall be forgiven? What sins did you commit in the last five years that so tormented you into defection?
Let me tell you this, Your Excellency. You were doing a great job as a PDP Governor. You may not know it, but I was one of your greatest fans. My fanaticism about the noble work being done by the Douye Diri government was in excess of the platitudes from Wisdom Ikuli, your expert technical adviser on media and publicity.
Sometimes I ask myself what exactly would Wisdom Ikuli write again, now that our boss has technically defected to the APC? Mark you, I don’t have any quarrels with the APC. The party was at liberty to win the elections on fair ground, without you handing the trophy over to them in the middle of the game. No discerning football analyst would condone such a game, not even ChaChao, the maverick scorer now trending on TikTok.
Let me remind you of the Prophet Nathan, Your Excellency, so you can put this in proper context. God has a way of sending prophets to the kings he anointed whenever they erred in his sight. He sent Nathan to King David Jesse, when the warrior king offended God by taking the wife of Uriah, and sending the hapless, unsuspecting soldier to die at the battle front.
Nathan went to the king with a short story, and David proved to be a perceptive critic. He came out railing at the offender, spelling out judgement, until Nathan let the king know that, yes, indeed the king was the guilty party. The scripture records that David went into mourning when he realized that he had sinned. He went into deep-hearted dejection, into soulful immolation, and wrote nothing but contrite poetry in his psalms, to express his regret and win back the heart of God. And because God loves confession, the sins of David were forgiven.
Your Excellency, you shouldn’t have defected to the APC. You should have remained with the PDP that brought you to office twice. You should have been steadfast till the very end of your tenure. You had no business jumping ship. And I say this in the light of the fact that you were the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. The glorious things you said about the PDP this time last year, precisely on the birthday of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, your colleague in Rivers State, are still fresh in the annals of the internet and the living memory of the world.
I was rooting for you about the great strides you had made in the area of road construction. You are the first Governor to connect the three senatorial districts by road. That landmark achievement alone is enough to venerate you in the eyes of history, and exonerate you from any intending traducers.
I protest, Your Excellency. I protest your leaving the PDP after winning a second term on the ticket of the party. I feel misled about all the nice things you said about the PDP. I protest before the court of conscience. You were called Miracle Governor because the Supreme Court installed you instead of David Lyon of the APC. That was the miracle. The man beat you at the polls, but God upturned it for a reason. Now you throw God’s gift back in his face.
How miraculous can you get? The only reason why God brought you into the picture was because of corona virus. A new affliction had been recorded at the time, challenging the world of medicine with its novelty, and Lyon could not have responded to it expressively the way you did. Let’s face it. When Moses stammered, God brought in Aaron to speak for him, if you get my drift.
The other day, an argument broke out among passengers inside a tricycle I boarded. Your identity came under interrogation. One loud-mouth said you ought not to be called Miracle Governor anymore because that was your fond title as a PDP Governor. Now that you have crossed over to the APC, he said, you should be known as Crossover Governor. I could only chuckle into my sleeves.
By the way, Your Excellency, the first thing I will do when I become Governor of Bayelsa State is to pay off the young man who won the case against the state government after five years of litigation at the industrial court. Don’t ask me why.
