Sophia Michaels
Reactions have continued to follow Bayelsa state governor, Douye Diri’s decision to join President Bola Tinubu in Abuja to celebrate his Supreme Court victory.
Reacting, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, Mr Ebiye Ogoli debunked insinuation in some quarters that Thursday’s visit by the Diri was to specifically congratulate Tinubu on his legal victories at the Supreme Court.
He stated in an interview with Punch on Friday while clearing the air that the governor visited Tinubu to felicitate him over the court’s verdict and that his move constituted an anti-party activity.
The apex court had on Thursday delivered judgement in favour of Tinubu in the appeals filed before it by the presidential candidates of the PDP and the Labour, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, respectively, following their dissatisfaction with the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Court.
However, shortly after the seven-man panel’s judicial decision, Diri was seen on national television shaking hands with Tinubu in the president’s office in Abuja. Among those with the president were the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola; Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
The development sparked speculations with many people believing that Diri had visited Tinubu to rejoice with him over the judgement.
But Ogoli explained that the Bayelsa governor’s visit was a mere coincidence because he (Diri) was scheduled to meet the president on Thursday.
According to him, the governor had been making effort for an official meeting with the president in order for him to discuss issues concerning Bayelsa.
He said, “What I know as a fact is that our governor had several times sought to meet the president. So what people saw on national television was just a coincidence.
“It was billed for him (Diri) to see the president that day (Thursday) to enable the president to understand certain things. And there are some pockets of issues for which the governor has been wanting to see the president as the Chief Security Officer of Bayelsa.
“So it happened that that very day, he was detailed to see the president and that’s why it was a coincidence. It was not as if he went there because of the Supreme Court judgement. No.”
The Bayelsa PDP official further contended that the visit was neither an anti-party move nor an attempt to slight the personality of Abubakar, stressing that the judgement and the visit were all coincidental.
Ogoli said, “Far from it (anti-party). I can tell you categorically that it’s not about trying to run down or demean the personality of our presidential candidate. Not at all. The visit was just a coincidence.”
He described Diri as a peaceful and amiable personality who does not believe in do-or-die politics and that “he is one politician who has always reached out to everybody on both sides of the divide because he sees himself as a leader, particularly in Bayelsa State.”
