Intervene In Bayelsa Crisis: Group Urges Jonathan

A political group, Concerned PDP Elders, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the current political skirmishes  in Bayelsa.

The group, which is also canvassing for a Jonathan/Sambo presidential ticket in 2011, told newsmen yesterday in Abuja that it believed Jonathan had the capacity to immediately settle the aggrieved parties in the conflict.

According to the group’s Deputy National Coordinator, Dr Godwin Dabo, the impeachment move against the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa Peremobowei Ebebi was capable of degenerating into a national embarrassment.

“Jonathan should therefore take drastic measures to resolve the conflict between Gov. Timipre Sylva and Ebebi, to assure Nigerians that he is capable of running a conflict free nation”, he said.

“We the members of the Concerned PDP Elders for Jonathan/Sambo 2011 are very disturbed with the political conflict taking place in President Jonathan home state.

“If the President cannot settle the conflict in his own state, it may create doubts in the minds of Nigerians whether he can ensure peaceful co-existence across the country,” he stated.

Dabo said that it was inappropriate for the President and PDP leadership to keep silent when a segment of the nation under their control was in flames.

Dabo called on Sylva to bury his differences with his deputy and move on to jointly deliver dividends of democracy to the people to avoid a politically instigated division and conflict in the state.

According to him, the impeachment is not necessary, since the conflict can be resolved amicably.

“This is a battle that will never produce any winner but all losers.

“None of them is elected on individual ticket but the two ran together on a joint mandate. We expected them to be partners in progress and not enemies,” he said.

However, he said if the concerned authorities refuse to provide an immediate solution to the conflict,  it might hinder peace and progress in the state as well as the whole country.

“There is no way there can be peace in the country when the home state of the President is in disarray,’’ he noted.

Also speaking, a leader of the group, Alhaji Hamisu Shira, said that the conflict in Bayelsa was an acid test for the President to prove that he was capable of providing the citizens of Nigeria a peaceful and harmonious nation.

Shira said that Jonathan’s silence on the conflict would create doubts on his ambition to manage the country without such conflict occurring in any part of the nation in the future.

“Democracy is not all about flexing of muscles but service delivery to the people. Therefore, governance should not be used by any to resolve personal differences,’’ he noted.

Another member of the group, Prince Peter Okoronkwo, said that before anyone could give peace to others, such must have peace in his home.

“If there is trouble in Bayelsa, there will be trouble in the nation,” he said.