Posted by By DANIEL ALABRAH on
Former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has ostensibly become the ‘beautiful bride' now being courted by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress (AC) in their frantic bid to clinch the governorship seat in the May 24 re-run poll.
Former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, has ostensibly become the ‘beautiful bride' now being courted by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress (AC) in their frantic bid to clinch the governorship seat in the May 24 re-run poll.
Although the impeached ex-governor was expelled from the PDP by the immediate past Ahmadu Ali-led executive on the orders of erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo, it is generally believed that he is still popular among the masses in the state.
The PDP is, therefore, said to be relying on his clout to reclaim the Creek Haven seat of power in Yenagoa following last month's ruling by the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt for a fresh election in the state.
The AC is, however, said to be counting on the ‘biological link' between the Governor-General of the Ijaw nation and its candidate for the poll, Ebitimi Amgbare. Both politicians are said to be cousins. Amgbare served as Commissioner for Sports under Alamieyeseigha.
Indeed, Alamieyeseigha is being touted to hold the ace over who emerges winner in the re-run election, despite being disgraced out of office through a controversial impeachment on December 9, 2005 and eventually convicted in 2007 for money laundering and corrupt enrichment.
It is not yet clear whether the PDP wants Alamieyeseigha back in its fold. Sunday Sun, however, gathered that the party is uncomfortable with feelers that the man regarded as a ‘master strategist' was backing Amgbare.
Our source said the PDP National Chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, personally visited the expansive villa of the ex-governor in the Asokoro area of Abuja on Monday night to solicit his support and to fine-tune strategies to return Chief Timipre Sylva as governor.
Although the party's stalwarts refused to confirm or deny the visit, another source claimed that Ogbulafor delivered President Umaru Yar'Adua's message to the ex-governor to be 'physically present" during Sylva's campaign flag-off on Saturday (yesterday) in Yenagoa.
Yar'Adua was said to have earlier telephoned Alamieyeseigha to inform him of his (Yar'Adua's) visit to the state for the event. He also reportedly requested the ex-governor to be present.
At press time on Friday, efforts to confirm Alam's renewed relationship with his former party were futile as several calls to Alamieyeseigha's mobile phone did not go through and even when it rang once, he did not pick it.
One of his aides, however, quoted the former governor as saying that Obasanjo cannot expel him from PDP, as the party does not belong to the former president.
'A greater majority of Bayelsa and Ijaw people still love Alamieyeseigha. We still regard him as the Governor-General of the Ijaw Nation. It is just a tiny percentage of the elite that ganged up with Obasanjo to humiliate him," the source stated.
A delegation from the AC in the state, which included Amgbare, also reportedly visited Alamieyeseigha's home in Abuja last Monday to seek his ‘go-ahead' for the election.
A source at the meeting said the ex-governor assured the AC candidate of his support, which, according to him, was important because of 'Alamieyeseigha's key position in the state."
The Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt last month voided Sylva's election of April 14, 2007 and ordered a fresh poll to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within 90 days.
Regardless, the AC has filed papers in court seeking to stop the May 24 poll until INEC displays the state's voters' register and properly delineate wards in the state.
Its other prayers include replacement of the INEC staff in the state, especially those that conducted the voided April poll, as well as dissolution of the state executive council constituted by Sylva.
Amgbare, who confirmed this in an interview with Sunday Sun, said they were expecting a favourable ruling at the court tomorrow (Monday) even as he expressed lack of confidence in the electoral body.
'INEC is lawless," he said.
The AC candidate dismissed insinuations that they went to court again because they were jittery and not prepared for the election.
'We are not jittery but we are also not comfortable with the May 24 date fixed for the election. Why the rush by INEC? The court said 90 days, and May 24 is barely a month after the Appeal Court ruling.
'If INEC does what is proper and allows a free and fair contest, I will emerge victorious because I have the people behind me," Amgbare boasted.