PDP should field popular candidate to retain Bayelsa~ Ex-Speaker

Former Bayelsa State House of Assembly Speaker Dr Kombowei Benson is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He spoke with Correspondent MIKE ODIEGWU in Yenogoa, the state capital, on the issues that will shape the primary and the November 16 poll.

PDP has 22 governorship aspirants. why do you think the party’s ticket should be given to you?

The party flag should be given to me because my party knows I have come of age in politics and politicking in this state. I have served the people of Bayelsa state in various capacities, not just as an elected officer; I have also worked with almost all the governors and have known the various ends that have led us to victory all the time. So, in government and out of government, I have done quite a lot in Bayelsa State and I know very well that it is no longer a new thing to me to satisfy the needs and aspirations of my people. As one that has been within the area of the state, I know the environment more than any other person. I know the challenges as they are. I want to sincerely appreciate the governor, who has done so much in providing the infrastructure, particularly in the educational sector and also the critical ends of providing the needed road network to serve the yearnings of our people.

I believe as one that has been in the frontiers in this government, I am in a better position to continue from where he will stop. I also know again that the people of Bayelsa State are looking out for someone they can trust with the resources of this state and also one that will be dependable. They will always have the confidence that, with Kombowei Benson in the saddle, we will deliver the dividends of democracy. In driving the course of this government, both at the legislature and the collaborative end of the executive, we have been able to attract several projects to our constutencies.

The governor has said that his support is for any of the aspirants from his Restoration Caucus of the PDP. Are you a member of that caucus?

Everybody knows that I have been a very dear brother and friend, compatriot to the governor, and one that he has given so much encomiums, both in the public and private. so, I have no doubt in my mind that the governor has me in his heart. So, one need not to question how much of caucus membership I am. I’m not only a caucus member. He is a brother, a friend and so I know very well that, if anybody should be most preferred, I should be the one. I don’t want to overprice myself. The governor and the Almighty God know who has served him with the whole of their hearts. I fall into that category and I’m confident about that.

What kind of candidate do you think the PDP needs right now to win the election?

The kind of candidate that PDP needs is the kind of candidate that is sellable to the people; a candidate that the people already has his dossier; a candidate that the people will continue to rely upon; a candidate that is not deceitful in his words and dealings and if PDP has a candidate that is transparent in his activities, the people of Bayelsa State will stand by him. The people of Bayelsa stand for truth and because the real meaning of Ijaw is truth, once an ijaw man sees you to be a truthful person you stand out among the others and that is the kind person an ijaw man is looking for. But, if they see you to be double-tongued and marring too many things at the same time, mixing too many stories and trying to embellish what you are not, the people of Bayelsa State will not go with you. That is the type of person that the PDP will not want to associate with. But, the PDP already knows that both small and big, men and women are looking for the original change not just change.

We have such real change in the educational sector. You can see the Ijaw National Academy (INA). You know the type of investments going on in the health sector; things we have not seen before. those are original changes. they are looking for somebody who has originality in anything that he wishes to do, not just an imitative kind of representation. You don’t come and tell the people skyscrapers stories. A professor once advised me when I was in the local government, he said I shouldn’t promise the people big things. But, that I should go for those ones that I could do. Our people are not looking at those big stories, they’re looking at the people that will provide the things that they need; the water that we will continue to demand; the road that we will continue to look out for; the health that we continue to improve upon; the light that we do not have and the security that we need.

So, I would not want to promise people what I cannot do. I listened to Falana recently and he said in Ghana the President is struggling to provide industries in all the wards, but that Nigerians are not demanding industries per ward. why not provide one industry or one factory per local government?

One of the major concerns of the government is continuty. Can the governor and delegates with like minds place their trust in you on continuity ?

This is one of the best question that makes me fit into the coming government. I’m part and parcel of the government, one that has been in the arm of government in charge of appropriation for the execution of these projects and I wouldn’t want a situation where the policies and programmes, which we also, as a body, as an arm of government cherished and were part of the planning and execution, just to lie fallow without been completed. If there are areas that need to be improved upon, we will do that and go ahead to complete those projects for the use of Bayelsans. Those programmes the governor may not be able to finish are for the use of Bayelsans, not for Dickson’s personal use alone. They are not Dickson projects; they are projects in Bayelsa to be used by the people in Bayelsa state and so, I don’t see any reason why any governor, even if it’s not myself, should abandon such projects.

Some people made some effort to stop the just-concluded local government election. did you support such move?

Well, in politics, everything is possible. Maybe, somebody thought that stopping the process was the best for him. But, having fought and lost, it would have given him some sense of understanding and wisdom so that next time he may not try it again. I think it is a welcome development that the party and the governor mustered courage to overcome the challenge.

You were the Speaker for about eight years and before then, you also occupied some public offices. How have your ventures benefited the people of the state?

A single person would not have built a society and all of us are part of a system and so, when the system has delivered, you have also delivered. if the system fails you, have nothing to complain and that is why if Dickson fails in administering or delivering the dividends of democracy, I have also failed. So, whichever success is recorded for the administration of Dickson applies to me equally. I wouldn’t want to take some special credit because the resources that were provided for any kind of projects executed in my region was a collective effort.

I will say that I did my best in attracting because as a representative government, you have to be proactive to draw the attention of government to remember your people. That I did in my constutency very well. A number of projects, even as we speak, few of them have been completed and some are nearing completion. I believe that we have attracted so much to our people and that’s why everyday I have the confidence that if I get back to my people to ask for their votes, they will give me their votes. During the last election, the present senator went with me to my constutency because he was a senatorial candidate and I was a candidate for the House of Representatives and he marveled at what he saw.

But people are wondering why you lost your the House of Representatives election…

I didn’t lose. What happened is known to everybody. It was a security breach and it was not during the election or at the time of voting. that anything happened or that my people rejected me. Voting had ended and it was the prerogative of INEC to secure materials back to the collation Centre. It was not even my responsibility. I was not supposed to be anything near any community, not even another unit and if the INEC officials were coming back with results and they were intercepted by the military and materials taken to my opponent’s community and results changed from their original state to another state I think it was not my doing. The people voted and after winning 13 wards out of the 17, what could three wards have done, if not that they cornered them to go and change result and write the total figures that were changed and therefore over voted and we still challenge them in court. there are struggling to defend and they can’t defend it. they lost and they where struggling to recover and they went to intercept the results on the way, using the military so that was what happened.

Do you think any aspirant can win the ticket of the party without the support of the governor?

Well, you know some look at it differently. In politics, you need the support of everybody. Even the people who are not in the restoration government needs the support of the governor. There is nobody that is not seeking the support of the governor. Everybody wants the love of the national chairman, national officers, state officers, former President, the governor down to the common man in the wards. Every official is important as the governor is important. the ward executives are important and we need their support. We need everybody’s support to win this election.

The governor recently spoke about some qualities that anybody who wants to succeed him has to possess. do you think you possess those qualities?

What you think you have, others may look at you and say you don’t have it and a man cannot be a judge in his own case. It is others that judge you. I have played out my cards. the people of Bayelsa state know who Kombowei Benson is and so I believe that what I possess is known to them. I have brought my credentials open to the people to judge me and give me the ticket. I believe I have the credentials and that’s why I have presented them.

So, you don’t want a peaceful, credible and fair primary?

They have been conducting peaceful, credible and fair election. I don’t need to describe it for them. It is enshrined in our constitution and it is their responsibility to provide that avenue and I don’t need to tell them to provide an atmosphere for me. They know it and I can’t teach them what they know and what they are supposed do. I don’t have those fears. I don’t have those fears that the party will not give us an enabling environment.

Do you foresee any crisis that could lead to the implosion of PDP after the primary?

The kind of aspirants we have, I don’t foresee any problem. We don’t have the type of characters that will constitute problem. We will be able to go through and work within the ambits of the law. I know myself and I will not cause a nuisance and I expect that every other person will behave that way so I’m not seeing any implosion.

Do you think that the party should respect zoning?

To some extent yes and to another dimension no. Why I say so is because at the time we were supposed to have discussed zoning properly for the party to understand that there’s a zoning system, we didn’t. Our zoning has been very informal and we do according to the dictate of the time or the wisdom of the carry-along syndrome. When we have a governor from one senatorial district, presumably, we think that it should go to another senatorial district. Although it’s unwritten, we try to manage that within ourselves and if we want to fomerlise it, we should sit down to do that.

I think so many persons have bought forms and how do you go about discussing such issues with them. If you make it too loud and too elaborate, you will injure the feelings of other persons. There’s an internal mechanism which the party has always been using to arrive at a candidate and I think those methods are still available.