By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Published: November 8, 2011
Let me state from the outset that I am not a fan of the embattled Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva. And my reason is simple. I sincerely don’t think that his achievements in office can be hoisted on the totem pole of good governance. Simply put, I am not convinced that given what he has done and failed to do in the last four years, he can be presented as the poster boy of our democracy.
But I also believe that no-matter how poorly he has performed; he has the right to stand for re-election. And the people he has misgoverned also have the inalienable right to reject him at the poll. That is the beauty of democracy. The electorate will always have the opportunity to reward elected public officers; each, according to his deeds. That is what periodic election is all about. In a democracy, a second term is a vote of confidence in a politician by the electorate. It is a reward for performance. It cannot be a reward for failure.
Democracy is not a perfect system. In fact, there is no such thing as perfect form of government, but as Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister noted in one of his famous quotes, “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Second term is not the right of every elected public officer. It is a privilege conferred exclusively by the electorate. It is always a sweet revenge when the people reject at the polls anyone who took them for granted. For the people of Bayelsa State, that payback time is drawing nigh.
But President Goodluck Jonathan wants to deny them that right. As you read this, PDP governors are in Abuja begging the man who says he is neither an Emperor nor a lion to allow Sylva to contest the party’s primary election on November 19. And the President is enjoying all the attention. When Sylva’s colleagues from the South-South went to see him on the same issue last week, he reportedly told them that he had made up his mind to shut the door against his state Governor. He has no power to do that. Ostensibly, he has a candidate he wants to impose on the people of Bayelsa, someone he thinks will do his bidding. Democracy in Nigeria is an ego business. That was the same way himself and Sylva were imposed on the people.
Aside ego, there are three other reasons why the President wants to stop Sylva. First, he wants to settle old scores with a man he considers impudent when he was the Vice President. The President never forgives real or imagined transgressions against his person.
The second reason is that he is assuming that the people of Bayelsa are not discerning enough and therefore are incapable of making the right decisions at the poll. In other words, even when they claim that Sylva had performed poorly, they will, nevertheless, vote for him.
The third reason Jonathan prefers to stop Sylva rather than give the people the opportunity to take their pound of flesh from their non-performing Governor is because he knows that elections in Nigeria are never free and fair, all pretensions to the contrary notwithstanding. In other words, if Sylva is allowed to fly the PDP flag in the election, his victory becomes a fait accompli and even if all Bayelsans vote against him, he will still be declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But all these show that our democracy is not working. In fact, it is debatable if we are practicing the classical democracy envisioned in the timeless definition of former American President, Abraham Lincoln in 1863 as “Government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
If democracy is that form of government where a constitution guarantees basic personal and political rights, fair and free elections, and independent courts of law, then Sylva’s basic and political rights entitle him to run for a second term if he so wishes. It is only the constitution that can stop him from contesting election. And as I write, the constitution does not forbid him from contesting. The so-called tons of petitions and allegations of misdemeanour, which the leadership of the PDP claims it has against him, cannot be used to stop him by fiat. In any case PDP has perfected the act of cooking up allegations against officials it wants to art-twist out of public office only to drop those charges soon after.
While Sylva reserves the constitutional right to contest, the constitution also gives the people the right to reject him at the poll.
Jonathan’s intervention is, therefore, very unnecessary. Or, is he saying that PDP members who are going to vote in the primary are not discerning enough to know that the Governor is a “bad market” who should be avoided? If Sylva is as unpopular as he is being branded, then, PDP members should know that if they elect him as their candidate, Bayelsans reserve the right to reject the party at the governorship poll next year. After all, it happened in Imo and Nasarawa states in April; proof that in a free and fair poll, the people are discerning enough to know what is good for them.
But if Jonathan’s fear is that the people will, despite Sylva’s failures in office, still vote for him, so be it. That is the beauty of democracy. The people are the kingmakers and their decision is supreme. Democracy does not guarantee that the best will always emerge victorious.
Granted, Jonathan is a Bayelsan, a stakeholder, but even as the President, he is entitled to only one vote just like any other person, and, therefore, cannot unilaterally decide for the other registered voters by fiat who their governor should be. If on the other hand his fear is that Sylva as a candidate will manipulate the election and declare himself governor, it is an indictment on his capacity to provide purposeful leadership because as the Commander-in-Chief, it behoves him to ensure that the election is not only free and fair but also peaceful. Trying to stop Sylva from contesting the primary election using executive fiat is an act of cowardice, a panic measure.
What the President is doing is a throwback to the Obasanjo era when he decided those who contested elections on the party’s platform at every level. The result was that rather than looking up to the people, those aspiring for public office looked up to Abuja. That is the genesis of the huge mess we have made of democracy since 1999, which has engendered corruption. Is it surprising then that members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) have been accused of taking N500 million bribe from Sylva?
My fear is that like most things he has done since he assumed office, Jonathan has once again bungled the Bayelsa 2012 poll, with possible security implications. He cannot open many battlefronts at the same time just to massage his ego. There are better ways of exercising the enormous powers that the Constitution bestows on the President.
