Following the growing opposition to the re-election bid of President Goodluck
Jonathan in 2015 by his kinsmen in the Niger Delta, indications emerged
yesterday that the Presidency had sent emissaries to get the critics to
soft-pedal.
Our correspondent also learnt that the Presidency had promised the
aggrieved ethnic leaders and ex-Ijaw militant commanders that the oil pipeline
surveillance contracts, stopped in February 2012, are renewed.
Tension had gripped the Presidency due to the rising discontent with
President Jonathan in the oil-rich Niger Delta ahead of his second term bid.
National Mirror learnt yesterday that the truce deal was being
spearheaded by a notable Ijaw leader (name withheld).
It was gathered that the Presidency mandated the team to persuade the
exmilitant leaders and other opponents of President Jonathan to stop their
attacks on the President.
National Mirror learnt that the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr.
Mike Oghiadomhe, met with the President of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer
Front, Alhaji Murjaheed Asari- Dokubo, in Abuja in a move designed to persuade
the exmilitant leaders to sheathe his swords and reconcile with President
Jonathan. Findings showed that only Asari-Dokubo attended the meeting.
It was gathered that the Presidency, which was uncomfortable with the
recent attacks on Jonathan by Asari-Dokubo, especially as it affected the
chances of the Nigerian leader to seek re-election in 2015, directed Oghiadomhe
to prevail on the ex-fighter to end his vitrolic attacks.
Reliable sources in the Presidency told National Mirror last night that
yesterday’s meeting served as a prelude to the general meeting between the
Presidency and an enlarged forum of the ex-militant commanders in order to
forge a truce and repair the damaged relationship between Jonathan and the
former warlords.
Although the agenda of yesterday’s meeting was not made public, National
Mirror gathered that Oghiadomhe discussed the festering issue of renewal of the
multi-million dollar oil pipeline surveillance contracts, which was the source
of anger of the ex-militants, with Asari- Dokubo and assured him that Jonathan
was ready to renew the controversial contracts, which were due since February 2012,
without further delay.
The presidential aide also persuaded Asari-Dokubo to prevail on his
colleagues to desist from further attacks on the President, assuring that
Jonathan would soon meet with them to enable them formally present their
grievances to him.
Asari-Dokubo confirmed that he had an audience with Oghiadomhe in Abuja
in a telephone interview with National Mirror last night. He said the meeting
was “private and personal”, adding that it had no bearing with the Presidency.
“Yes, I had a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President today
(yesterday) but it was private and personal.
The Chief of Staff is a long standing friend of mine. People are free to
insinuate anything but we only discussed issues of personal and mutual
benefits,” he added.
It will be recalled that leaders of notable ethnic nationalities and
ex-Ijaw warlords in the region had lately scored Jonathan low on performance
and delivery of democratic dividends to his kinsmen in the region. Asari-Dokubo
had said that the re-election of President Jonathan in 2015 was doubtful due to
his lacklustre performance, especially in the region.
Also, other notable exfighters, particularly Chief Ateke Tom and Mr.
Ebikabowei Victor Ben, a.k.a Boyloaf, in a recent publication, lamented that
President Jonathan had squandered the goodwill that heralded his ascendancy to
the Presidency in 2011.
The ex-militant leaders had threatened to withdraw their support for the
re-election of Jonathan in 2015. The Ijaw National Congress, INC, the umbrella
body of the ethnic nationality, had also asked the President to forget his
re-election in 2015.
A source in the Presidency, who did not want his name mentioned, told
National Mirror that “the Commander- in-Chief (Jonathan) is worried about his
downward trend in his popularity rating in the Niger Delta.
“The Presidency is disturbed that virtually all the ex-militant
commanders who had once threatened to make the country ungovernable if he is
not re-elected are today singing a new tune that he is not qualified for re-election
due to his alleged unenviable performance.
“It is more worrisome that some ethnic leaders, including the Ijaw
National Congress, INC, have joined the fray, insisting that the President
should not be reelected and threatened not to support him in his bid to seek a
second term mandate.
“This trend is worrisome to the Presidency and Mr. President is greatly
unhappy that his own kinsmen are the one championing the campaign that he is
not fit for a second term ticket.
“Hence the Presidency has raised a team headed by a prominent South/
South leader to placate all aggrieved parties in the region to ceasefire and
remain steadfast with Mr. President in the high wire politicking ahead of the
2015 election.
“We are aware that the team has met with some exmilitant leaders in
Abuja to persuade them to halt further attacks on Mr. President.
“The Presidency has also enticed the ex-militant leaders with the
carrots of renewal of their oil protection pipelines contract, which the
President has refused to renew since it expired in February 2012.
“The presidential team is also expected to reach out to the aggrieved
ethnic leaders to reduce the attacks on Mr. President by his kinsmen in the
Niger Delta.”
Meanwhile, a former Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has
lamented that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Presidency has failed the
country.
Odigie-Oyegun, who is also the National Chairman of the South-South
Peoples Assembly, a multi-faceted socio-cultural group with political
undertones in the region, said the performance of the Presidency was abysmal.
The ex-governor, who spoke in a telephone interview with National Mirror
yesterday, asked the President to give priority attention to key projects in
the South-South.
He said: “This opportunity may not come again soon for the South-South
to produce the president of the country and people will challenge him
(Jonathan) as soon as he comes out of office about what he was able to do for
them. “Jonathan should change the psychology and get a bit more parochial towards
the South-South in providing infrastructure for the area.
He should attend to the projects in the South-South to convince the
people of the area that they do indeed have a South-South presidency. “But
generally, I am not satisfied with the state of the entire country under the
PDP leadership. They have totally lost it if they had it at all. I am very sad
at what PDP has done to the nation.
I am greatly unhappy with the leadership of PDP because it is not
responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians and I am also bothered
about the level of impunity.
“The security is zero or how do you justify the attack on the venerable
and respected Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero? What could have possessed them to the
extent of attacking such an old man? Why? “We have challenges that the PDP
leadership is toying with. For instance, electricity supply has nosedived again
in the past few months.
“The PDP leadership should take up these challenges rather than stealing
money. They are stealing pensioners’ funds here and there. The PDP is not
viable for re-election. They can only be re-elected if we in the opposition
fail our people by refusing to listen to them.
“Nigerian people are saying team together and save us. That is the
message. If we ignore the people, we too will be part of the conspiracy. I
think they have no more clues, they are totally lost and we don’t want them to
destroy the country.”
Source: National Mirror
