With some former governors having issues with their successors, on account of their interference in governance, immediate past governor of Bayelsa State and current senator representing Bayelsa West, Senator Seriake Dickson, has offered useful advice on how to ensure peace and stability in states.

In this interview, he speaks on burning national issues including the adoption of indirect primaries in the Electoral Act recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu. He also bares his mind on the role of FCT Minister Wike in destroying the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among other issues.

You have been vocal about your position on the new Electoral Act, especially on real-time transmission of election results. But there are other issues in the bill which are also important. Can you speak on some of the aspects that were not properly covered?

At our committee work, we agreed that the existing three methods of party primaries should be protected and returned. We said that a political party can agree on consensus, it can adopt consensus, and we defined it so that it does not become a consensus that is contrived. We said that all the people who have presented themselves and bought forms and done screening must volunteer and voluntarily write their withdrawals. We protected it. So consensus is there as an option. The second one is, if there is no consensus, they have to go for primaries, which is mandatory by the law. There are two types of primaries – direct primaries and indirect primaries. And we prescribed that for direct primaries, every registered card-carrying member of the party has a right to participate at the ward level. It will be organised by the party and INEC will observe it. We agreed on it. The indirect primary is when the political party, through its elected delegates and stakeholders, defined by the law and also by the party constitutions, will select their candidates and officials. So, these are the three methods. Then they adopted the indirect primaries version, which is wrong. We cannot, by law, force all political parties, big and small, whether they like it or not, to adopt the direct primary that has become synonymous with the APC primaries.

The APC has chosen to apply that for most of their primaries. But that’s up to them. They have no duty to force direct primaries down the throat of every other party. Allow parties the option of choosing which form of primary they want to. So all of that we discussed and agreed, and it’s contained in our report. The House of Representatives passed this exact version. Everything we agreed to, they passed it. Those who probably were not even in the committee, or even if they were in the committee, were not part of the deliberations, maybe they didn’t attend, didn’t follow up, or didn’t show interest, changed things. We all agreed on the draft of the law in the national interest, irrespective of party affiliations. But unfortunately, this is the direction it has turned. The leadership tried to accept that what they did didn’t satisfy the national interest. Yesterday they brought a motion for rescission. But then there are concerns about the proviso that has been introduced. But again, on that proviso, even if that is the version passed, INEC, by their guidelines, and their instructions, and their manuals, to the presiding officers and other officials, have a duty to require mandatory application of the rule that says the results of polling stations must be electronically transmitted. That is now compulsory by law. And I’m sure that we are making progress.

As one of the people who are more thorough in approach to legislation, have you identified more issues in the law beyond electronic transmission of results from polling booths?

Well, I have said the issue of electronic transmission is very well known and is so important. It directly affects the integrity of the electoral process at the grassroots level. Everybody is really rightly outraged about it. I have also talked about the mode of primaries, which is also important. And the other issue is about the time frame. I think the time frame has been abridged. I support it because of the delays that have already been occasioned. INEC cannot even meet the notice. The National Assembly is right in abridging the time within which notices for elections can be issued and within which some of the other processes can take place. I believe that there is wisdom in reducing the period between primaries and general elections so that we don’t shut down governance. We spend too much time politicking, electioneering, such that people who are in offices are all thrown into the political fray. So I think there is a sense in abridging it. And I think that three months to a general election may be like it. That’s like what has been done. So the abridgment of time is important because the first time that should be recognised is the period for the notices of elections. And already, because of the delay in the passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, INEC had to shift it. And we have to amend the law to enable them to adjust the time frame. And that affects every other time frame. So, yes, there may be other things, but I don’t really think too many things have been left out. What we can see is this abridgment of time, which makes sense because of where we are now. And secondly, the issue of primaries and then electronic transmission. Maybe some other details, but not as fundamental as this.

Many people believe that any candidate that emerges from the PDP towards 2027 is just wasting his money and time because of the crisis in the party. What is your reaction to this?

Yes, we are very bothered about the crisis in the PDP, which has festered for so long and which, frankly, speaks to a lack of leadership and failure of leadership by those who are in positions. The former working committee, the governors who are calling the shots, keep calling the shots and take leadership decisions, strategic decisions, sometimes without consulting people, or even do not take advice they give. Before you know what is happening, those of them who took the decisions without listening to advice, they were the ones that bailed out – all of them. So, the PDP is not in a good position right now. I am still in PDP because I am faithful to the platform that has given my people so much and also given me so much. But, quite frankly, the leaders of PDP have messed up completely. The governors have missed every opportunity to pursue and achieve a reasonable solution to save a historic brand like PDP, which they are toying with. Maybe most of them think it’s their personal property. The PDP is a national brand, and an integral part of the political history of this nation. But that’s the kind of platform they are playing with. We have had several opportunities, when we could have resolved these issues amicably. Even within the lifetime of the previous working committee, under whose inept leadership, this crisis started and blossomed and consumed a major political party that leaders in Nigeria sacrificed everything to build. The governors contributed to taking sides, not taking decisive actions when they should have. Dividing the party according to camps. And allowing whatever little ambitions they had to go into their heads. And not even learning that an opposition party required every stakeholder’s input and involvement. If PDP had 28 to 30 governors, and the governors were strong, but you have now been reduced to less than 10, shouldn’t it occur to you that you are not the only stakeholders? But they kept on as governors and leaders of the party. This is what their leadership of the party has caused. Every one of them feels they own the party, just because they are governors. And even people who brought them into offices and supported them mean nothing. They took decisions without consultation; they allowed the party to move from one avoidable crisis to the other.

A prominent member of our party, Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, while being a stakeholder of the PDP was nominated to be a minister in the current administration they should have known how to manage it. From that time they were all dancing Kokoma dance. Dance this one in the morning; in the afternoon, dance this leg and at night, change the dance step. I was the state chairman of Alliance for Democracy in 1998 and national legal advisor. When one of our leaders, the late Chief Bola Ige, was nominated and appointed minister by President Obasanjo in his cabinet we knew the crisis it caused to the party. Unfortunately, they didn’t learn from that experience. So, the governors have to take responsibility. The others who were in the AD, they had to take responsibility. While the house was collapsing, they were more interested in calling themselves leaders and taking positions without consulting people and without even building structures in their home states to win for the party. But they were content being PDP leaders as members of the National Working Committee and Board of Trustees. So it’s unfortunate what has happened to PDP. What has happened to PDP, you can’t even wish on an enemy that is a party formed by great democrats and the founding fathers. Once you leave those who fought for independence and were political leaders in the 50s and 60s and so on, once you leave them, you talk of the people who formed PDP. When you consider the NPN, UPN, NPP and GNPP, you will hear about great leaders like Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar and Adamu Chiroma. Some of them are still alive. Jerry Gana and Sule Lamido were among the youngest. They formed a great party for all Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and political divide. They coalesced and selected an umbrella as a symbol. The belief was that wherever you are in this country, the rain and the sun will not touch you. The umbrella will protect you. Under the umbrella, my Niger Delta people got the vice presidency and got the presidency of Nigeria. And that’s why we remain sentimentally attached to the PDP.

Captains are not the first to bail out. Once there is disaster, a true captain stays until all efforts to salvage it fail. But I will make a decision. It seems PDP’s case is not giving one any hope, but we are still praying. And even at the last minute, something good can happen. Every small boy, every small person who is one person, one office holder now, will just carry on as if they own the party – the party we admitted them into, gave them the tickets, fought for them and supported them. We still hope and pray that people will come to their senses. The labours of our heroes should not be in vain. What is happening to the PDP is very sad.

We have had instances where former state governors had issues with their successors. How has it been between you and Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State?

I am only available as a former governor to offer advice and support. That is the attitude I have adopted since leaving office. That is why people have not heard of stories by me as you have heard from other states. There are some states where they say, I dey my dey, you dey your dey. Nobody worry anybody.’’ I’m not calling any names. When I was leaving the office, I left without any strings. I didn’t give conditions. If I’m available, the government knows that it is for consultations. If my input is needed, well and good. I wish the government the best in the remaining years. That’s my attitude. I never asked for anything. I stay on my own, and it has brought peace and stability. Those who were thinking that Bayelsa will boil, so that they can laugh at me, or laugh at the governor, or laugh at our people, have failed. As I said in one of my interviews, I’m determined to disappoint them to the end. I’m determined even to disappoint the governor too. For six years he has not seen interference. It won’t come. He has not seen meddlesomeness. It won’t come. I’m not interested in that. He has not seen disrespect. It won’t come. I want him to succeed. And I want Bayelsa to build on the peace and stability that I worked for. I worked so hard to institute peace in the state. I worked so hard for infrastructural development. We started most of the key roads. Key projects are going on. Some have been finished. I am happy about peace and stability.

When you finish governorship, you don’t have to be a governor when you are no longer a governor. It is the duty and responsibility of the person you have assisted to realise that somebody helped you to get there. And such a person was there before – he needs to know about this or that having been there before. He has some experience, let me tap into that experience.

And most importantly, let me give some honour and respect to that person who sat on this seat before me. And even that person who God used to bring about my elevation. Those are the responsibilities of the person.I keep saying, what God uses us to do for people is within our control. But how they respond, what they do to us, what they say about us, how they treat us, it’s not within our control. It is theirs. And men are watching. God Almighty is also watching. So you leave it for them. So my advice to my friends and my brothers, who are former governors, is not to worry themselves so much. Just as we live and God has used us to support them, most of them, the ambition was not theirs. It was ours. They didn’t even say, I want to be governor. They didn’t say they wanted to be governor, most of them. We brought them, said come and be governor.

We have a duty to distance ourselves, pray and support them. I’m not saying it’s not painful when they say certain things or do certain things or allow certain things to be done. But, my advice, and I’m old in this game now, I’m six years as a member of this club and every day I welcome new entrants into that club of former governors who brought successors. Do as we are doing now, don’t interfere, stay far! Even when I go to Bayelsa, I hardly stay in Yenagoa. I go straight to my village and stay there. I allow the governor space and time to do his job. And even if they disrespect, badmouth and blackmail you, you should pray for them, to realise that one day they themselves will be former governors. Time runs out very fast too. I hear all kinds of stories about me from around all the states. My advice to my former colleagues who are my friends, is to leave everything for God and move on, particularly for those of them who are even well placed they are very lucky. Some of them are very lucky and after governance they are almost like governors or more super governors. They should be happy they are luckier than some of us who manage quietly and then move on. Only God knows tomorrow. (The Sun)

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