Last ditch efforts on Friday evening by three South-South governorsRotimi Amaechi, Godswill Akpabio, Liyel Imoketo persuade President Goodluck Jonathan to clear Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State ahead of the partys primary election have been countered by the Presidents loyalists who have convinced Jonathan not to change his mind about Sylva.SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the loyalists who include an impeached former deputy governor of Bayelsa and one of the governorship candidates in the state, who is seen as Jonathans choice, reportedly told the President not to cave in to the pressure mounted on him by the South-South governors.Indeed, a close associate of Sylva, Frank Oputu, told our correspondent that Jonathans allies had told the President to ignore the pleas by the governors.Oputu, who is the former Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, described attempts to deny Sylva the PDP ticket as a personal war.He said the plan was hatched by the Presidents political allies who had thrown their weight behind Mr. Seriake Dickson.According to him, the Presidents allies believe Sylva had become too powerful for Jonathan and was no longer controllable. For them, it was unacceptable for the President not to be able to call the shots in his state.Their thinking is that if the Presidents tenure expires in 2015, the governors tenure will subsist and that it will be a difficult task for a former president to control Governor Sylva and decide who becomes the next governor of the state, Oputu saidIt was further gathered that those sympathetic to the governor in the Presidents camp are in the minority.A member of the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, who pleaded anonymity said, Sylvas fate is beyond us. We have written our reports and released the list.Governors that are mounting pressure on the President know that he holds all the aces. The final list will come, but we are awaiting the President.Anybody whose name is not on the list must work extra hard. I am not saying such a person cannot make the list, but the chance is very slim.If the body language of the President during his meeting with South-South governors is anything to go by, I will tell you that Sylvas chances are not bright.The source added that it was unlikely that Jonathan would direct the NWC to include Sylva in the list because of the reports against him.The PDP source further said, If Sylva makes the list, Alaibe and Muray-Bruce will also be included. It is unlikely that Sylva will be cleared. Jonathan will not like to bend the rules for one person.Another indication that Jonathan may be trying hard to ward off the pressure being mounted on him over the Bayelsa State governorship ticket of the PDP emerged on Saturday as the President stayed away from the wedding of his younger brother in Yenagoa, the state capital.The Presidents brother, Azibabariolo Jonathan, wedded Charity Fanti-Daufa at the St. Peters Anglican Church, Ovom, Yenagoa.The President was scheduled to attend the two-legged ceremony with his wife, Patience, who was the Mother of the Day at the reception. The states former governor, Chief Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha, chaired the reception.Members of his advance team were already in the state capital waiting to receive him on Saturday morning before they received the news early in the morning that he would no longer attend.The President was represented at the wedding by his Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Oghiadome. Oghiadome flew into the state capital in the same helicopter alongside Sylva and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Bala Muhammed among other dignitaries.Sylva was represented at the wedding by Secretary to the State Government, Chief Gideon Ekeuwei.Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, however said Jonathan cancelled all his appointments including attending the wedding of his younger brother in Yenagoa and another function at the Airport in Abuja as a mark of respect for victims of the bomb blasts in Maiduguri, Borno and Yobe States.Abati said the President described the bombings during the period of Eid El-Kabir as condemnable.He said, It would be wrong and insensitive to be seen celebrating when such tragedy occurred.The Action Congress of Nigeria in the state has however referred to the development as unfortunate, especially as it had affected governance in the state.The National Youth Leader, ACN, Mr. Miriki Ebikibina, said ever since the PDPs internal squabbles started, activities in the state had been grounded and that the poor masses had been affected by the selfish battle.He said, ACN describes as sad, shameful and counter-productive how the unfolding intrigues of the ruling party in the state have grounded the activities of the state. It is unfortunate and a worrisome situation where all the government apparatuses of the three tiers of government in the state have relocated to Abuja on a purely party matter that would have been best resolved within the party.A former member of the Federal House of Representatives, Ebikekeme Ere, also said the action of the PDP had demonstrated that the party was not ready for democracy.Intrigues surrounding the decision of the PDP to withhold the clearance of Sylva ahead of the partys primary election scheduled for November 19 have further heightened the tension in the state.Our correspondents observed that the loyalists of the governor were devastated by the announcement of the NWC that Sylvas fate would be decided after investigating all allegations against him.The party had earlier promised to publish the last list of its contenders on Friday but surprisingly made a U-turn and said the last batch of its aspirants would be based on the outcome of its investigations.The development was said to have further rattled Sylva and the former Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Timi Alaibe, who were expected to make the list.Our correspondent learnt that the drama in the PDP fuelled speculations that the plot to oust Sylva from contesting the election was real.Although it was gathered that the governor and most of his political associates were aware that the governor would face re-election hurdles, they never anticipated that it would begin from the screening stage of aspirants for the partys internal election.Following the high-level politicking trailing the efforts to salvage the governors ambition, all the political heavyweights sympathetic to the governor relocated to the capital territory, Abuja.Most of the commissioners, political aides and friends of the governor abandoned the state to fight the last battle of retrieving the governors ambition from his detractors who were said to be behind the scheme to remove his name from the list.It was observed that administrative activities in the state had been paralysed owing to the political shenanigan in PDP, described by many people as a distraction.On Tuesday, Sylva and Alaibe, and the ex-Chairman of the Silverbird Entertainment, Mr. Ben Muray-Bruce, were missing on the list of aspirants cleared by the PDP for Bayelsa State governorship primary.At a press conference in Abuja, its Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, had said,We have not sacked Sylva, we are doing politicking by finding out that our candidates are fit and suitable because we did not want to put out candidate there and will not be able to win election for us.Sylva is a known political foe of Jonathan, just as it was alleged that security reports based on petitions weighed against him.Efforts to get comments on the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Rufai Alkali, did not succeed as he did not pick his telephone calls.He had also not responded to an SMS sent to his mobile telephone as at 8pm on why the party failed to release the final list of aspirants as expected.
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