It is only seven days to the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, but members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are confused over the stand of former Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Their anxiety further heightened on Wednesday when the party flagged off its campaign rally with Jonathan conspicuously absent.

Also absent at the rally was a governorship aspirant and former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Timi Alaibe, whose candidacy Jonathan was believed to have supported in the party’s governorship primary in Bayelsa State, which was won by Senator Douye Diri.

Both Jonathan and Alaibe are said to have been very bitter since the latter lost out in the primary election. They believe that the process was manipulated against Alaibe.

Efforts made by the party and the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, to placate them have yielded no fruit.

Governor Dickson said he had made efforts on 15 different occasions to get Jonathan to support Diri’s candidacy but all his efforts have been fruitless.

With the elections now only one week away, party members in Bayelsa State are concerned that Jonathan’s attitude has been lukewarm.

Their fears are compounded by the absence of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, also from the campaigns flag-off on account of the cold war between him and Governor Dickson, which dates back to the election of national officers for PDP in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.

Wike had supported the candidacy of the party’s current national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus while Dickson preferred Chief Bode George because he believed that the Southwest needed to be brought into the mainstream.

In the presidential primary of the party also, the two governors had deferred in their choice of candidates. Wike wanted Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as the party’s presidential candidate while Dickson wanted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

But right there in Port Harcourt, Wike’s candidate was trounced, setting the stage for the peace of the graveyard that currently prevails between them.

Wike’s absence at Wednesday’s rally, observers say, could be an indication that he cares less about the outcome of the elections. (The Nation)

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