Last Thursday’s sudden death of the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, came as a shock to Nigerians. I want to believe, particularly, all genuine lovers of pluralistic democracy in the country, are saddened by his demise.
When the report of his death came to the newsroom, the first thing any media organisation would do is to seek confirmation or official pronouncement of the state government on this incident. Sadly, those whose responsibility it is to do that were not forthcoming.
It is this attitude of not responding to inquiries by those whose responsibility it is to make this official statement that encourages several newspapers to report the death of people that are still alive.
Nigerians with our mastery for penning dirges or epitaph would always write that the departed left when their contributions were mostly needed.
In the case of Ewhrudjakpo, this will be most fitting and appropriate. Our democracy, given our experiences since 1999 and much more in the last couple of years, would surely miss Ewhrudjakpo.
It’s rather unfortunate the way the death was treated by the Bayelsa government as they chose to maintain sealed lips while confirmation came from other states including APC states even till late Thursday night.
Imagine that while treating news stories for publication and the news of the deputy governor of a state comes in, then one puts a call to everyone you know in the state, and they either refuse to take their calls or when they do they feign ignorance. For a whole day, the rumour mill was buzzing, while the official government pronouncement was not forthcoming. The online media had a field day reporting his demise.
The beauty about democracy remains the plurality of choice. The ability to make a choice and hold a dissenting view or opinion on the choice of party to belong or to vote for. Take away this simple but very important attribute of democracy and what you have is dictatorship, autocracy or totalitarianism.
The Deputy Governor, we were later told, collapsed while proceeding to a scheduled meeting within his office and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, where he was later confirmed dead.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, was a former Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District and Deputy Governor since 2020, to Governor Douye Diri.
However, recently when Governor Diri dumped his party for the ruling APC, the late deputy governor remained in the PDP.
It is not as though this is the first time a Governor and his Deputy would part ways over party choices, but what made Ewhrudjakpo case appear unique is that it was coming at a time when all we were having, apart from issues relating to insecurity, was the frequency with which all opposition party members were defecting to the ruling APC with the entire state machinery of their parties.
This worrisome trend remains unprecedented. With the way things are going now, come 2027 elections, all the opposition parties put together may not have up to five governors in the country.
The consequences being that by the general elections, they may not have the wherewithal, both in logistics and human capacity to stand the ruling party.
Some of the reasons adduced by the fleeing governors range from the absurd to the very ridiculous. Most of the defectors say it’s as a result of the division within their party. A division many of them helped to create to give room for dumping their parties.
The recent one being that of Fubara of Rivers State, who claimed he dumped his party, PDP, because they did not back him during his fight against his political godfather. Now, he has dumped his PDP and joined the ruling APC that fought him and humbled him to submission. Isn’t it more like jumping from a frying pan to fire?
The reason for the gale of defections has mostly been described as a battle for self-preservation and political survival both for first and second term governors.
The late former deputy governor never had any disagreement with the governor, at least not in the open, as it is common with many deputies. Even his refusal to move with the governor to APC, was handled in such a way that Governor Diri himself said he was not going to force or hold any grudge against him for refusing to change camp with him. Their relationship was one that is rare today. They appeared to have a perfect relationship, until Diri decided to join his other colleagues who were leaving the PDP for APC.
While it is easy to say other first term governors may be defecting because of their second term ambitions, it’s even more difficult to explain that of Diri who is a second term governor.
This trend is not healthy for our democracy. Even if President Bola Tinubu is the best in the field, it will do our democracy a great good if the contest in 2027 is keen and he emerges winner. What we have now appears like there are efforts by the ruling APC to emasculate all oppositions before the next general election.
Ordinarily, this gale of defections can be dismissed as within the rights of the politicians to join the party of their choice, but when one realises the nature of our democracy and the huge financial implications on parties, and the roles governors play in their states during elections, then the implications of the mass movements becomes even clearer to all.
Again, some can argue that these elected politicians may be defecting without the support of the people, however, if our experiences in the past are anything to go by, the outcome of elections do not reflect the aspirations of the people.
The opposition parties in the past and today are always alleging a lack of transparency in the process. The opposition parties said so during the 16 years rule of the PDP just as they are complaining now with APC as the ruling party.
We join millions of other Nigerians to mourn a man like no other man whose principled stand against joining the bandwagon should be commended. This character trait is not common today, especially when you realise all politicians want to be in the ruling party.
We join the people of Bayelsa to mourn the demise of a great character. We pray for the repose of his soul. We also thank the Bayelsa government for declaring a three-day mourning for him.
We also want to plead with our politicians to allow our democracy to develop to maturity. It would be counterproductive if we continue to encourage this trend of everyone wanting to belong to the ruling party to the detriment of the opposition.
