Bayelsa’s Five-Star Hotel

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan remains a surprise. He was not different on Friday when he broke his long silence on the disputation between him and Bayelsa State Governor Chief Timipre Sylva. It was all about a hotel, an un-built hotel.

“Everybody knows that in our society, we need development. I was second in command to Alamieyeseigha. One thing I remember is the Tower Hotel. It was not my dream but it was conceptualised under the Alamieyeseigha administration.

He discussed with the contractors. It was supposed to be a five-star hotel and it would attract people from all over the world. But now, it is a monument of disgrace. One thing I know is that God is with Bayelsa people,” the President said while campaigning for Seriake Dickson and his running mate, John Jonah, a retired Rear Admiral.

Nobody would believe the President that all the troubles that brought governance to a halt in Bayelsa in almost a year was over a hotel. How would this five-star hotel have improved lives of ordinary Bayelsans who cannot afford a meal or send their wards to school? Would the hotel end the chaotic water transportation in the state that causes frequent loss of lives?

Governor Sylva would not be his party’s candidate in Saturday’s election because he did not complete a hotel the President started with Alamieyeseigha. From the look of things, the lives and future of Bayelsans hang on the hotel, possibly unknown to the governor, who presumably after many promptings from Abuja refused to build the all-important hotel.

Would the hotel have provided electricity, created jobs for hundreds of thousands of youth, built roads, and made housing available? Did Jonathan in his hand over note stress the importance of the hotel? What compelling reason would Sylva give for not completing the monument of grace that took eight years to conceptualise?

However, Nigerians heard of a weightier allegation against Sylva. Last November he had to issue a statement denying allegations that he threatened to kill President Jonathan.  Everyone seems silent on the matter.

Bayelsans have a lot that should worry them. Their  state is doomed if assessment of its level of development would be based on the completion of one hotel, no matter how majestic and towering its name sounds.

The simple message on the campaign ground could have been lost on many, but definitely not on a beaming Dickson who has been told how easy it is to please his principals.

President Jonathan has tied Bayelsa’s fate to the development of a hotel. Nowhere has development been based on a single project not to talk of a hotel even if it is seven-star.