The Path to Tread
By
Because of our recent experience, coupled with sordid revelations, only very Nigerians today will credit the military with anything
positive. The general impression is that rather than being corrective as they professed, the military came, saw, squandered and pillaged whatever came
their way. Such is the disdain to which the Armed Forces is held in the country.
But then we tend to forget that while many negative things were perpetrated under the military because they were accountable to no one save themselves,
many other positive measures, some of which civilian regimes could not handle, took place during military rule. The issue of state creation is a case that
readily comes to mind.
At independence in 1960, Nigeria had three regions: North, East and West. The Premier of Northern Region, Sardauna of Sokoto, and leader of the defunct
Northern People's Congress (NPC), Alhaji Ahmadu Bello was able to maintain a firm grip on the north such that there was the erroneous impression that the
north was a monolithic entity. The issue of splitting the region could not arise under the prevailing circumstance. Events in later years have proved this
"One North, One People" view to be a fallacy but it served the purpose of keeping the north under one umbrella when it mattered most.
In the East, the defunct National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) that was in power opposed, completely and absolutely, the move to create any
autonomous entity out of the region. The restive minorities had started a move for the creation of what came to be referred to, nebulously, as the
Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State. That move could not amount to anything because, the Eastern establishment, just like its Northern counterpart, saw in
splitting the region an erosion of its power. Moreover, the NCNC was not sure of controlling the region that could be carved out of the East especially
given the treatment meted out to the late Eyo Ita, who was then the leading light of the Eastern minorities.
In the west, it was a different ball game. A significant proportion of the Western minorities had some affinity with the East and prodded by the NCNC,
this area became very vociferous in calling for the creation of a separate region for the area, which then, for lack of a better name, chose to be called
Mid-west. Thus in 1963, the Mid-west Region was created out of the Western Region, bringing the number of regions to four.
In almost 41 years of independence, the creation of the defunct Mid-west Region, later known as Bendel State, now split into Edo and Delta States, remains
the only successful geo-political creation of civilians. The rest from that four-region arrangement to the present 36-state structure was possible only
during military rule. One such state that came out during military rule is Bayelsa State, created by the government of the late Head of State, General
Sani Abacha.
Bayelsa is a very peculiar state in the federation. It is possible that, given the nature of its peculiarity, if it was under democratic rule, any
suggestion that Bayelsa State should be created would have been thrown over board because politicians would have found a convenient reason to reject the
suggestion. For instance, they would have cited absence of basic facilities necessary to carry or support the structures or institutions of a state. But
then, it is good that a state like Bayelsa was created at least to make development trickle down to the remotest parts of Nigeria.
What makes this state distinctive? Bayelsa is about the only state not hooked to the national grid. That is a statement on the level of underdevelopment
of the state. Despite being the core of the Niger Delta where petroleum, the liquid gold that has made Nigeria what it is, is produced, at the dawn of the
Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999, one could actually count the number of petrol stations in the state. Yenogoa, the state capital had no major road linking
it to other parts of the country. It is an indictment on the Nigerian state, on our sense of justice.
In this dispensation, Diepreye Alamieseigha is the governor, the first civilian administrator the state is having since its creation. At the maiden summit
of the 17 southern governors in August last year at the Eko Tourist Beach, Akodo in Lagos, his name provided a therapeutic elixir in the hall before the
deliberations commenced. The task of introducing the respective state chief executives fell on Mr. Dele Alake, the Lagos State Commissioner for
Information and Strategy. While Alake had no problem introducing other governors, in the case of Alamieyeseigha, he had to call the name three times
before he got the correct pronunciation. Basking in the attention that generated, an obviously elated and vivacious Alamieyeseigha raised his thumb and
counted "one, two, three times" to jocularly tell his fellow governors that he was different from the rest of them. Such is the man's sense of
humour. At that meeting, he was sitting beside Dr. Peter Odili, the Governor of Rivers State, from where Bayelsa was created. The two sister-states, early
in this administration, had been at loggerheads over a number of issues like the siting of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
set up by the Federal Government and administration and funding of the University of Science and Technology, Portharcourt, jointly owned by both states.
Apart from the absence of physical infrastructure, many people in the state, until recently perhaps, lived in a state of siege because there was neither
peace nor security. There was constant youth unrest and inter-communal uprising. These were traceable to the deep feeling of marginalisation the people,
especially the youths had. There was a palpable anger at the various multi-nationals operating in the area. Embassies and high commissions warned their
nationals in Nigeria against doing business in Bayelsa State. For any governor, there could not be a more challenging task.
When Odi community was bombed very early in this administration, Alamieyeseigha was attending a convention of his party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
and he had to leave the convention the moment the news got to him. Though, obviously out of political expediency, the governor did not castigate the
federal authorities for the destruction and violence that was visited on Odi, it was apparent he did not like the handling of the situation by the
Obasanjo Administration. At the end of the day, it was the state government that had to reconcile the people, rehabilitate the displaced and rebuild and
reconstruct the structures destroyed in the carnage.
Today, there are so many opposing forces in the state and many complain about the governor's style of leadership, which they say tends to be dictatorial.
But recently, the committee set up by the PDP to investigate allegations of corruption against him cleared him and claimed that the signatures attributed
to him were fake though the committee did not name those who faked the governor's signature.
The bomb incident at the State House of Assembly a day before the impeachment of the then speaker, Mr. Heineken October Lokpobiri in June, showed how
vicious the opposing forces in the state and the extent politicians in the state can be to get even with opponents and detractors. Ironically, Lokpobiri
was the governor's candidate for the post of Speaker of the Bayelsa House of Assembly and both men were very good political associates before the
relationship went sour.
The task before Alamaieyeseigha is to reconcile all the aggrieved in Bayelsa State. He can do it. A state like Bayelsa cannot afford to be a house divided
against itself. It needs all hands to be deck to lift the state up from the present level of backwardness. That is the challenge before Alamieyeseigha.
That is the path he must tread.
December 2001