By Sunday Onumah
Although the purported claim has been rebutted, the inherent political implication remains an issue of interest to the principal characters, their respective associates and the entire public.
It all started with an alleged claim by the body, Movement for the Sustainability of Ijaw, that Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, said that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s years at the helm of affairs were wasted years.
The body, in a statement by its national leader, Tombra Ebitimi, had accused Dickson of disparaging the former president in a manner it considered an act of ingratitude, stating emphatically that the governor was a political godson of Jonathan and duly benefited from his leadership.
Dickson, through his spokesman, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, has since denied that the governor made any such remarks castigating the former president, or disrespected him, as claimed. Yet, the media war has continued to rage, eliciting some fundamental questions on why Ebitimi came up with the harsh salvos in his press statement. Or, is it true that the two political helmsmen in Bayelsa are actually up to some form of attrition in their long–standing political relationship?
One may not know for now but Ebitimi’s words, in castigating Dickson, were really scathing. As he put it “We believe that only a stone-hearted traitor would move against a man who regularly comes to his rescue in times of danger”.
The group compared Dickson to Brutus, a villain, who dealt Caesar the heaviest blow from his hidden hand while pretending to be a friend. As the group put it, “initially we did not believe that such toxic arrow could be shot from the bow of a political godson in the direction of his highly revered mentor and fellow kinsman. But, having waited for about two days for Dickson’s clarification or rebuttal to no avail, we have no choice but conclude that the attack was a carefully orchestrated denunciation trained to achieve a desired end”.
Now, how can Ebitimi and his associates come to such reckless conclusion because Dickson did not rebut the allegations within two days and thus his condemnation was inevitable even in such abusive manner and words? So, what now happens that the governor has made it clear that he never said so and that political merchants in the ilk of Ebitimi, who are not happy with the cordial relationship between Jonathan and Dickson, are the ones making such orchestrations? A lesson in political restraint and witticism?
Expectedly, in such a partisan attack, concerned individuals and institutions are not likely to keep mum even when they do not bear any major political relationship with the state but are only acting as interventionists in what could also be seen as a public debate on the propriety or otherwise of Ebitimi’s positions, especially when Dickson had denied the comments he allegedly made against Jonathan.
Thus, as evidenced in the various reactions, the evaluations and judgments seem to be directed at former President Jonathan (ignited by Ebitimi’s unguarded salvos) not as an individual but as a public officer whose interest as president and political leader can only be properly measured as a public trust and of course the high expectations in his South -South zone which produced a president for the first time.
Ebitimi, in his statement, reckoned that most of the criticisms against Jonathan were meant to rubbish his achievements and his administration, in what he described as the usual ‘pull him down syndrome.’
He vehemently defended Jonathan and his administration, stating that other governors have not criticized Jonathan not only because of their love for him but that their conscience would not allow them to do so, describing Jonathan’s time in office as successful.
But, does Dickson really have any good case against Jonathan? Ebitimi asked rhetorically. He proffered an answer. “We do not think so because we are all witnesses to the successes recorded by his administration towards not only advancing the cause of the Ijaw but also working assiduously to make life better across the country”.
The position of Ebitimi and the movement for the sustainability of the Ijaw, cannot even be valid because Dickson has already disowned the statement and also denied any complicity on the Jonathan issue.
However, this curious spat is not likely to end so soon as we race towards 2019.
Comrade Onumah writes from Yenagoa.