The unseen hands in Bayelsa Assembly crisis

EBIOWEI LAWAL writes on the undercurrents in the brewing crisis in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly as the countdown to the governorship election in the state begins.

AS lawmakers walked into the hallowed chamber of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in the early hours of last Monday, the only thing that was, perhaps, on their minds was that the embattled speaker, Honourable Tonye Isenah, was going to resign his position to make way for the emergence of a new leadership. As far as they were concerned, if the speaker refused to resign, they would initiate the process of his removal, since reconciliation had never been an option from the moment the governor of the state, Seriake Dickson, and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had directed the speaker to resign.

The lawmakers believed that they were not only in the majority in the Assembly, but also had the backing of the governor, the PDP and Dickson’s political machinery, the Restoration Caucus. They all want the speaker out to enable them to balance the political equation of the state ahead of the November 16 governorship election.

But the camp of the speaker also had its own game-plan, as it came up with a shocker. Isenah called the Assembly and adjourned sitting and parliamentary proceedings indefinitely. Afterwards, he and some lawmakers loyal to him left the chamber. Almost after their exit, suspected hoodlums invaded the chamber and allegedly took away the mace amid sporadic shootings.

Shortly after things were put under control, 18 members, led by the deputy speaker, Abraham Ingobere, who were said to have brought another mace from an unknown destination, went on to impeach the speaker on the grounds of gross misconduct and dereliction of duty and Monday Obolo-Bobou was elected speaker instead.

But Isenah, who appears not ready to relinquish his position, later told journalists that he remained the speaker, despite claims that he had been impeached by other lawmakers.

According to the embattled speaker, he convened a meeting of the House, led members through a plenary session and adjourned sitting before leaving, insisting that anything that happened after he left the Assembly complex amounted to illegality and were against the rules of the House.

Isenah said: “It was alleged that I was going to resign today (Monday). While I was addressing members of staff, I said today might be the last time I would be addressing them. Yes, I said that. But before then, when I met with my constituents, I was told that I had not committed any crime and that if I ought to resign, it should be based on the principle of federal character. That is to say that if a governor emerges from my local government area, I should resign and I know that fact.

“But I am the speaker of the state House Assembly and not the speaker of any individual. So, when I got to the Assembly complex, maybe the general expectation was that I would be resigning, but I didn›t. I simply got into my car after the House concluded plenary session and drove off.

“When I arrived there today (Monday), I saw heavy security presence and was wondering what was happening. So, the shooting may have resulted from the fact that they were trying to scare people away, because some persons were trying to forcefully gain access into the premises.

“I didn›t enter any agreement to resign after Douye Diri becomes standard-bearer of the PDP for the governorship election. If there is any agreement to that effect, they should bring it and show the people of Bayelsa. I have been with my boss, Seriake Dickson for 15 years, loyal and working.

“Why would anybody think I have to resign for PDP to win election? PDP is a party that is on ground in Bayelsa State. For example, when Dickson was contesting for governor, the speaker then, Nelson Binabo, was from his local government area. Today Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area has the opportunity to produce the next governor and I am working towards that. But what if we don›t get the governorship and I have been impeached before the election? What happens to my people?

“They have the right to think that I have been impeached, but whatever happened after I left the Assembly today amounted to illegality, because as the speaker, I convened the House; we had plenary; sitting was adjourned before I left and same day, they are saying I have been impeached. Who reconvened the House? Any resolution after sitting was adjourned in the House this morning is illegal. I remain the speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.”

It was alleged that the plot to impeach Isenah and replace him with a lawmaker from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area began after Senator Diri emerged the standard—bearer of the PDP at the party’s primary held on September 3.

It was gathered that the impeachment of the speaker is part of the plan by the governor and leaders the PDP to balance political equation and give the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon, a tough fight in Southern Ijaw during the forthcoming election.

It was said that Isenah was elected speaker after reaching an agreement with Dickson and other PDP leaders to vacate his office in the event that Senator Diri, who hails from the same local government area with him, becomes the party’s governorship candidate.

Sources said after Diri won the primary, the governor and PDP leaders had asked Isenah to surrender his position to another lawmaker from Southern Ijaw to enable the party to bring their plan to fruition, Isenah insisted he would not let go of his position before the poll.

In the face of Isenah’s insistence to hold on to power, some lawmakers loyal to the governor and the PDP were said to have been mobilised to an impeach Isenah who said his resignation would not add any value to the quest by the PDP to win the governorship election.

It was also learnt that external forces, especially members of the opposition APC, seemed to be happy about the development and therefore, made efforts to lobby some of the lawmakers to protect Isenah and stand against any plot to remove him from office.

Isenah was said to have tried to convene a sitting of the House to discuss issues and adjourn the House till further notice, but some of the PDP leaders, who got wind of the development, reportedly prevailed on lawmakers who are loyal to them not to attend the sitting, which failed to hold for lack of capacity to form a quorum.

But a source close to Isenah said the speaker’s travails were beyond his refusal to fulfill an agreement that he would resign from office if Diri emerges the PDP standard-bearer. According to him, the pressure on Isenah to resign was as a result of his refusal to initiate an impeachment proceeding against the deputy governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd), for contesting in the PDP governorship primary.

Another source in the government claimed that it had always been the plan of Dickson and his party to work for the emergence of a Southern Ijaw speaker immediately after the expiration of the tenure of the former speaker, Kombowei Benson. The plan, according to the source, was to replace Kombowei who hails from Southern Ijaw with another second-term lawmaker from that area. The calculation is that this would protect the support base of the PDP in Southern Ijaw, in a case Diri emerged as the candidate of the party.

“But to achieve this, Dickson had an obstacle. That obstacle was Chief Ndutimi Alaibe whose entrance into the PDP primary race was too difficult for Dickson and the Restoration Caucus to manage when it came to wooing delegates from Kolokuma/Opokuma to vote for Diri. The way out was to make Isenah the speaker of the state Assembly, giving him more will and power to wrest political control of the area from Alaibe. With this in mind, Dickson invited all the lawmakers to the Government House.

“At that meeting, it was agreed that Obolo, a second-term lawmaker from Southern Ijaw, would put his ambition to become speaker aside and allow Isenah to lead the House until after the primary. The term of the agreement was that Isenah would resign after Diri emerges as PDP’s standard-bearer and, in turn, pave the way for Obolo to succeed him,” said the source.

Overwhelmed by pressure from his party men and women to resign or face impeachment, Isenah, last Friday, reportedly agreed to resign his position on Monday, saying he had “no choice but to let peace reign in the state Assembly.” But instead of informing his colleagues about his decision to resign, Isenah gathered staff of the House of Assembly Service Commission, saying his meeting with them might be the last and that he did not want to take the blame, in a case the PDP failed at the governorship election.

According to another source, the member representing Southern Ijaw constituency 1, Felix Bonny-Ayah, and the member representing Southern Ijaw constituency 3, Moses Marlon, accompanied Isenah to the said meeting with staff of the commission. But the news of his alleged resignation got to the other lawmakers. While his colleagues congratulated him for his political maturity by agreeing to step down, Isenah also made no effort to deny the report.

While observers were still analysing the possible implications of the action of Governor Dickson and the PDP, Isenah, on Saturday, went to his base, Kaiama and Odi, for a meeting with his constituents.

On arrival, no fewer than 10, 000 indigenes and residents of the area had taken to major roads of Kaiama and Odi in protest against what they termed an unnecessary plot to remove the speaker, their representative in the state Assembly.

Some of the protesters carried placards with inscriptions: “KOLGA people are 100 per cent against the forceful oppression of Mr. Speaker,” “if Tonye Isenah resigns as speaker, supporters vow to dump PDP for APC,” “Governor Dickson is confusing KOLGA people” and “PDP, stop frustrating our sons, or else…”

According to the protesters, Isenah is generally accepted and loved by his people. They said any attempt to force him to resign as speaker would make the PDP unpopular in Kolokuma/Opokuma.

One of the protesters, Honourable Dounana Okes, told Sunday Tribune that “if they want Isenah to resign, the PDP should as well forget about the votes of Kolokuma/Opokuma people, because we are 100 per cent behind him.

“We are also using this protest to ask Isenah not to resign. We want him to stand his ground and let us see if they would impeach him. It is at that point we would know what to do. It is either Isenah remains as speaker till February 14, 2020 or we dump the PDP.”

Another protester, Mr. Princewill Abassa, said: “The crowd here today is not a hired one. They are sons and daughters of KLGA that love Isenah and are not happy that he is being oppressed. If you talk about empowerment, he has empowered more people than any other politician from our area. Isenah trained my children in school when I had no money to pay their fees.

“So, tell me why I won’t fight for such a man, if he is being oppressed? Our demand is that the PDP should leave him alone and let him remain as speaker until February 14, 2020.”

In separate meetings in Kaiama and Odi, the people from the area told Isenah not to step down, insisting that Isenah was a bird in hand that is better than 100 Diri that was yet to be caught.

The ambush

As Monday came, supporters and sympathisers of Obolo gathered near the Assembly complex, celebrating, while also waiting patiently to hear the news of Isenah’s resignation and the ascension of Obolo to the position of speaker. But Isenah had other plans. According to a source close to the embattled speaker, Isenah had planned to convene members who believed he had resolved to resign, indefinitely adjourn sitting of the House and walk out, believing that whatever happens afterwards could make a good case in court.

“Isenah’s plan is to force the members bent on removing him from office to commit a foul by illegally impeaching him. Then, the next plan is he would take the case to court, demanding that the House be sealed until the case dispensed with,” he said.

The source alleged that the tactics was to destabilise the governor bid to deliver his preferred candidate against the APC’s.  According to the source, the controversy might create room for Dickson’s political adversaries to capitalise on the crisis to alter control of the state’s politics by giving Isenah all the supports he needs to fight on.