Five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have become fall guys kept under watch by Aso Rock because of suspicion they are scuttling the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
A source named Governors Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), and Babangida Aliyu (Niger) as those the Villa no longer takes into confidence in the campaign.
Jonathan allegedly sees them as agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) working in the PDP for the election of APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
“The Presidency has lost confidence in them and they are not allowed to take part in any strategic meeting of the PDP, concerning how the election is to be prosecuted,” said the source, who pleaded anonymity.
He added that although the governors and some other PDP top shots appear to be members of the party, their body language shows that they are not committed to its success at the polls in March and April.
Dickson fights back over ticket loss
Dickson is in a running battle in public with Jonathan’s wife, Patience, for allegedly blocking his second term ticket in the PDP.
He was booed during Jonathan’s campaign rally on February 5 at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, a treatment similar to what happened to former Governor Timipre Sylva, who was stoned with sachet water at the same venue when Sylva fell out with Jonathan.
Dickson is alleged to have entered into an alliance with Sylva, formerly of the PDP now APC Senatorial candidate.
Elechi seeks succour in LP
In Ebonyi, the manner in which Elechi’s allies lost out in the PDP primaries late last year is reportedly making him to look to the Labour Party (LP) for succour.
Elechi’s supporters are now in the LP, and PDP chieftains fear he may be working for LP governorship candidate, Edward Nkwegu, to win.
This may put the PDP in a difficult position in Ebonyi, a state over which it has had a near absolute control since 2007.
Chime now PDP outsider
It is the same story in Enugu, where Chime has literarily become an outsider in the PDP he used to have in his pocket.
Although Chime installed Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as PDP governorship candidate in Enugu State, he lost control of the party to Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
Chime’s senatorial bid could not fly because Ekweremadu indicated interest in returning to the Senate for the third time. This reportedly angered Chime whom sources said is not interested in pushing for Jonathan’s re-election.
Yuguda talks of ‘lintel’ and ‘roof’
Up North, Yuguda is allegedly working for the success of Buhari in Bauchi.
A member of the state PDP told TheNiche that Yuguda compares the election to a building, telling the people on the stump to vote for the PDP only up to the “lintel level” but vote for whoever they wish at the “roof level”, a veiled way of asking his followers to elect Buhari.
Aliyu campaigns with Buhari’s picture
Disguise is absent in Niger, where Aliyu prints his picture on his Senatorial campaign posters along with those of PDP governorship candidate, Umar Nasco, and Buhari as APC presidential candidate.
Lamido’s supporters also pitch ‘lintel’ and ‘roof’
Although Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, is not on the blacklist, he is not entirely at ease.
He wants Jonathan to win re-election, but fears that Buhari’s popularity in Jigawa may tilt the vote in favour of the APC in all positions in the state.
Lamido’s supporters have crafted a slogan in Hausa to campaign for PDP candidates, “Ayi gini a kai linta”, which literally means “Let us build the house to the lintel level” – that is, vote PDP in state elections.
The implication is that voters are to decide for themselves who occupies the roof.
His loyalty to former President Olusegun Obasanjo still poses some problems for him with the powers that be.
Bayelsa
Balyesa, home state of Jonathan, is one the six states in the South South regarded as his bedrock.
Jonathan can still have a strong showing in Edo and Rivers although they are ruled by the APC.
Rivers was in the PDP column until Governor Rotimi Amaechi defected to the APC in November 2013.
Northern collective
Bauchi (North East) and Niger (North Central) are part of the North, which is Buhari’s stronghold.
Jonathan and the PDP intend to retain and even expand its grip in the region, where 12 of its members are governors.
Ebonyi, Enugu
Ebonyi and Enugu are in the South East, another stronghold of Jonathan. Though Imo is ruled by the APC but its underbelly is occupied by the PDP, just as Anambra, which is in the hold of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is practically in support of Jonathan.
Fani-Kayode ignores call, Metuh unreachable
PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation Media Director, Femi Fani-Kayode, did not answer his telephone when TheNiche called to get his comment on the governors who are reportedly under watch.
Calls to PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, did not go through.
