The ambition of the Bayelsa State candidate in the November 16 governorship election, Senator Diri Duoye, to succeed incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson, received a major boost at the weekend when former President, Goodluck Jonathan, emerged from a closed-door meeting with governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states, and endorsed Duoye.
At the meeting which held at his Abuja residence, Jonathan dismissed allegations in certain quarters that he was working for the ruling party. “How can I be working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) when I am a frontline stakeholder and the father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he asked?
The meeting was attended by state Governors of Abia (Okezie Ikpeazu); Oyo (Seyi Makinde); Ebonyi (Umahi); Sokoto (Aminu Tambuwal); Taraba (Darius Ishaku) and his Bauchi State counterpart, Senator Bala Mohammed, as well as the Director General of the PDP Governors’ Forum Osaro Onaiwu, represented the forum at the high-profile meeting.
Few days ago, there were insinuations in the social media that the former president had entered into an unholy alliance with the APC-led federal government to work together in the build-up to the November 16, 2019, governorship election in Bayelsa State, a narrative, which was described in some quarters as the handiwork of detractors.
However, last Friday’s meeting doused the perception, as palpable fear seemed to have once more gripped the opposition. It is not clear whether the six governors facilitated the endorsement as it was perceived that Dickson blocked the aspiration of Jonathan’s preferred candidate from becoming the PDP governorship candidate in the November 16 governorship.
However, since the emergence of Douye, efforts have been made to unite the party and secure Jonathan’s endorsement of the PDP candidate. After the PDP governors mobilised and met Jonathan and seek his endorsement of Douye, the former president agreed to support his governorship ambition.
According to a governor who spoke to Huhuonline.com in confidence, Jonathan was told of the need to support Douye notwithstanding any perceived grievances during the governorship primaries. The governor said: “If the PDP is defeated, the news would be that Jonathan loses his home state to the APC and not Dickson. Who is Dickson to Jonathan? We made it clear to him that his name and influence is at stake, and that he should do everything necessary to support Douye in the November 16 elections.
“At the end,” he said: “as an elder and a party leader, he has no personal grievances against Douye or Dickson,” explaining that the feeling that he was having problems with them was the brain child of some politicians who want to cash in on his humility and political lifestyle. Jonathan pledged thereafter to use his influence as a leader in the state to campaign for Douye to win the election.
