Senator Clever Ikisikpo the incumbent senator who represents
the Bayelsa East Senatorial District has been on the corridors of power since
1999.
He was in the state house of assembly for eight years before moving to
the House of Representatives where he spent four years before moving to the
senate. He still has up till May next year to serve his people in that
capacity.
He is from Ogbia, same local government with the president.
Ikisikpo took over from Senator Barigha Amange who hails
from Nembe.
His critics describe him as a bench-warmer in the senate, as
he is not among the regular faces known for pushing bills and motions.
But Ikisikpo believes that those who hold such believes
about him are very wrong. He will always say that he has been playing
significant roles in the appropriation committee of the senate as member and
has been able to influence the inclusion of some projects in the budget.
So, for his considered achievements in the senate and the
wealth of experience he has garnered over the years in legislative matters, he
believes that he should be supported by all to return to his seat in the senate
in 2015. However, some stakeholders from the area believe that his time is up
and that the seat has to be occupied by someone else, from the Brass axis.
But Ikisikpo does not find this to be funny, “When people
talk about zoning, the question we should ask is that when did people of
Bayelsa East gather to discuss the issue of zoning? There is no day the people
of Bayelsa East sat down to discuss zoning.
“Goodluck Jonathan has been our political leader right from
1999. He was a deputy governor, holding the highest office in Bayelsa East and
today he is the president. Does he know anything about the zoning matter they
are talking about?
“I was in the state house of assembly before I moved to the
House of Representatives and today I am in the senate. So that is to say that I
am a stakeholder in Bayelsa East politics from 1999 to date, and I have never
sat down with anybody to discuss zoning.
“If there is zoning arrangement, then why did Amange contest
against me in 2011 before he left the senate? Because there was no zoning,
Amange contested against me in 2011 while he was still in the senate. He even
took me to court, up to the Supreme Court?
So, all these issues about zoning are figments of someone’s
imagination.
“I know the National Assembly more than any of them; I am
the vice chairman of the appropriation committee for years, so I know the
senate more than all of them.”
The stakeholders do not agree with him though. One of them,
a much respected royal father believes that the right and proper thing to do
was for the seat to rotate the way it has been rotating. For instance, an Ogbia
man was there in the first instance followed by a Brass man, then a Nembe man
an now an ogbia man again. The royal father insists that it is time for the
Brass people to produce the next senator for the senatorial district. Perhaps,
this is what informed the emergence of ace broadcaster and promoter of the
Silverbird Television, Ben Bruce. He is believed to be enjoying the support of
the high and mighty in the state.
Amange, until recently, still believed he needed to get back
to the seat he left in 2011. During a press conference in Yenegoa, he said the
controversy triggered by the issues of zoning of political positions in Bayelsa
state was unnecessary and should not be applied at the detriment of experience.
“There is nothing like harmonizing people out through
zoning. Zoning should not be applied at the expense of experience. If we want
the best for Bayelsa and President Goodluck Jonathan, I am the better to do
that.”
“From 1999 till date Bayelsa East has always been
represented by new senators in each session. In the National Assembly, there is
advantage in having a ranking senator instead of a new one. New legislators are
welcome but experience shows that second term legislators have strategic
advantage. The principle of zoning and power shift is useful in our political
system but shouldn’t be applied at the expense of merit and experience. I am
saying all these because I am not the first and the last senator that has
served our people. When I left in 2011, another person came after me and the
Bayelsa East Senatorial District has seen the difference I made during my time.
Nobody can compete with me in terms of performance. I have many fresh ideas and
an unfinished business at the senate.”
Amange, who served as vice chairman, senate committee on
interior during his time at the 6th Assembly, lost to Ikisikpo in an
election he felt was rigged after serving a single term in the senate.
Amange may have seen the handwriting on the wall and decided
to pull out the contest, after a public declaration of his ambition, leaving
the battle for Ikisikpo and Bruce.
Though Ikisikpo’s chances of scaling through the hurdles
before him appear slim, especially because of the zoning saga, the highest
policy making body in Ogbia land, the Ogbia Brotherhood, is giving its total
support to his re-election bid.
The body which has Jonathan as member, is using their close
ties with the president to pacify the people of Nembe and Brass LGAs to dump
the idea of zoning, to give Ikisikpo a safe landing.
Shortly after a botched PDP stakeholders meeting at the
Ogbia Brotherhood auditorium in Ogbia town, the Chairman of Ogbia Brotherhood,
High Chief Olord Basuo told newsmen that the decision of Ogbia people to let
Ikisikpo return to the senate for a third term was irreversible.
He said “As experience is the best teacher, it is our
decision to give Ikisikpo another opportunity for effective representation,
consolidation and to impact meaningfully on the gains of democracy.
“We totally condemn in strong terms the zoning arrangement
by the purported political stakeholders of the senatorial district and advise
whoever is having any political ambition to come out and test his on her
popularity.”
Be that as it may, Ikisikpo’s greatest challenger could just
be the former General Manager of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and
Chief Executive Officer of Silverbird group of companies, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce…
Bruce first ventured into Bayelsa politics in 2011, when he
bought a declaration intent form to contest the governorship of the state
against the then incumbent, Chief Timpire Sylve.
His mission was aborted earlier than expected, as the PDP
screened him out on the grounds that he was a new member of the party and had
to wait a little longer before contesting any elective position on the platform
of the party.
But this time, the people of Bayelsa East Senatorial
District were thrown into disbelief when Murray-Bruce declared his interest in
Ikisikpo’s job. More so, they wondered if he had in this short period garnered
enough strength in the party to beat the likes of Amange and Ikisikpo in the
chase.
An indigene of Brass, who gave his name as Amalanyo, he said
that it would be hard for a man like Murray-Bruce who does not have a house in
Brass to have the votes of the people of the area.
“Even our environment is alien to him. How can he represent
a people he doesn’t know in a sensitive place like the senate where the
interest of district and zones are discussed everyday?”
However, an Aso Villa source said that Murray-Bruce is the
candidate to beat.
According to him the next senate would be a new one because
75% of the members are leaving the house and that his chances of winning are
very high.
“I am excited about the process and am excited for the
opportunity to serve my people. This gives me the opportunity to play politics
as I have always wanted to. I am going there to deal with a lot of issues that
concerns the public and protect the interest of the president.
“This senate will be very different and it will be people
oriented in a lot of ways.
We cannot produce 40 per cent of the country’s wealth and
live in abject poverty. I am deeply concerned about the welfare of our people
and I am going there to make a difference.”
From the look of things, the president will be expected to
have a final say on this matter. And, whoever chooses, whether through his body
language or openly, will pick the PDP’s ticket for the election. So the people
may just be waiting for the president.
Culled from
TNN Newspaper
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