By Amos Odeh
Zoning, a political arrangement that breeds harmony, equity and fairness in political entity, has become a thorny issue ahead of the November 16 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.
The former Director-General of Seriake Dickson Governorship Campaign Organisation, Fred Agbedi, disclosed this, while advising that zoning be jettisoned.
Agbedi, one of the leading contenders for Dickson’s seat, made the statement when he led members of his Onward Restoration and Transformation Campaign Organisation to the Federated Correspondents Chapel (FCC) secretariat in Yenagoa.
The House of Representatives member for Sagbama/Ekeremor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, described politicians who wanted the next governorship position to be zoned to Bayelsa Central as ignorant.
According to him, there was never a time elders, politicians and other stakeholders sat to decide zoning or power rotation in the state.
His words:
“People talk about zoning. They said it’s Bayelsa Central’s turn to produce the governor. The question I ask is whether there has ever been zoning in Bayelsa? The answer is emphatic ‘no’. It is very simple that in leadership, politics, and governance in Bayelsa, there has never been zoning. The state was created by the military in 1996, we all know that. We also know that we did not come in through democracy, but through the military that handed over in 1999.
“In 1999, I had already come back from the House of Representatives.
“I am among those that took Bayelsa people to meet Alhaji Usman Dagogo, the Chiroma of Katsina, who was the deputy chairman of the sub-committee on state creation in the Mbanefo panel. So, I know how Bayelsa was created. I know how it was funded and realised.”
He challenged anyone to a public debate on zoning in Bayelsa, adding that people from all the zones contested the last governorship ballot, negating the zoning principle and wondered why zoning is being proposed today.
He said, “If you zone election, it means that all the contestants should come from the area it was so zoned to. But because there was no zoning, people contested from all senatorial districts.
“So, where was zoning in 1999? Of course, when the late Diepreye Alameiseigha had issues, did anybody zone it to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan? He was deputy governor and naturally and by providence he stepped in.”
He advised stakeholders to go into the archives and stop deceiving the public, even as welcome zoning as a political decision for exigencies , but it has been an unwritten agreement as far as Bayelsa State is concerned.
Rather, he averred that for peace and harmony in the polity, four local government areas such as Ekeremor, Yenagoa, Nembe and Kolo kuma / Opokuma that have not been governor should be beneficiaries of a micro zoning being taunted in Bayelsa State.
Meanwhile, one of the foremost contenders in the governorship race, Keniebi Okoko, has stated that he was not threatened by none of the 21 aspirants jostling to become governor of the state.
He spoke in Yenagoa .
He explained that he was in the race to mainly give back to society his wealth of experience over the years as a technocrat and a successful business mogul, adding that he is experienced, equipped and prepared to take the state out of the woods and put it on the fast path of socio – economic recovery.
The guber hopeful called on all Bayelsans to take their destinies in their hands as the forthcoming guber elections is a litmus test for the state, emphasising that industrialization remains the catalyst that can open up the state which will eventually lead to wealth creation and job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths across the state.
