President Goodluck Jonathan campaign
train, on Friday, stormed Bayelsa State, the president home state, with
several former Niger Delta militants on hand to rally support for his
re-election bid.
The rally, which held at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa, witnessed a large turn-out of party supporters.
The crowd went into frenzy, as they
cheered for former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari,
who rode past earlier on the top of a dark Mercedes Benz 4×4, stretching
his fist out of his white robe in a power salute.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters,
wearing the red and green of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
cheered as Jonathan took the stage after hours of dancing to singers and
a live band.”I know you love me and I love you,” Jonathan told the
roaring crowd, before adding, “I will make sure that everybody, in one
way or another, tastes the fruits of democracy.”
President Jonathan came down hard on
persons and establishments, who he accused of working against the
administration of the Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson,
saying that persons opposing Dickson are his enemies.
He said: “Those who don’t like the
governor (Dickson) don’t like me because I am working with the governor.
I have read stories. Some people are coming to spoil your minds.
“If you don’t like the leadership that
we put in place, then you don’t like me. So, don’t allow people to spoil
your minds. I have noticed that you young people, 0.4 per cent of you
who are here have been instigated by people who don’t like us.
“But I am telling you that you must work
with the governor of this state for you to benefit. We are together, we
work together to bring dividends of democracy to this state.
“Don’t allow anybody to deceive you. I
am telling you as your brother. I am telling you as your uncle. You must
work with the government to make sure that we develop this state. You
have to work with us.”
The president was apparently reacting to
the attitude of a section of the crowd allegedly sponsored by
anti-Dickson’s camp. The camp continually booed the governor on
different occasions during the rally.
Even as the president spoke about his
cordial relationship with the governor, the crowd intermittently
punctured his speech with hate chants against Governor Dickson.
Investigations revealed that most of the
persons who booed the governor were bearing banners and campaign
posters depicting the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN).
It was gathered that the development was
part of the alleged plot by TAN and the First Lady, Dame Patience
Jonathan, to use political thugs to humiliate Dickson at the rally.
But Jonathan, in his speech,
disappointed the crowd who waited for him to reel out his achievements
in the state in the past four years.
Instead, he said: “We have done a number
of things which I would not like to bore you with. We will do more. I
know you like and love me and I like and love you too.”
He said he was not in the state to
campaign, but to thank the people for supporting all his political
aspirations from the state to the federal level.
Trouble started for Governor Dickson, when as the host, he climbed the podium to deliver his welcome address.
Hardly had he started speaking than a
section of the crowd, in a rehearsed manner, shouted him down, with some
telling him to shut up. Dickson, who said the rally was a homecoming
for the president, continued with his speech as the crowd grew in their
unruly behaviour.
As the thugs persisted in their booing,
the governor urged the president not to join issues with people who
brought rented crowd to the rally to actualise their selfish interest,
and restated his support for the President, and asked him not to have
sleepless nights about the support of voters in the state.
But while the governor and his wife,
Rachel, recognized the First Lady in their order of protocol and poured
encomiums on her, Mrs. Jonathan refused to recognize them in her order
of protocol.
Dickson and the First Lady have been at
daggers’ drawn over the latter’s alleged plot to undermine the governor
and unseat him, allegedly using TAN as a platform.
In her speech, the First Lady called on
women in the state to support her husband, recalling that when her
husband was in the state as a governor, he carried all the women along.
Earlier in his speech, Vice-President
Namadi Sambo, alluding to a chieftaincy title conferred on him by the
state council of chiefs, referred to the election as war and said they
would win the battle.
“We will fight the war and we will win
the war. Mr. President has not failed us. He has transformed Nigeria and
we now have the largest economy in Africa,” he said.
Asari Dokubo and several other former
militant leaders, including Tompolo, Kuku and Boyloaf among others, at a
recent meeting in Yenagoa, threatened to go to war and make a return to
the days of militancy if Jonathan does not get a second term.
0 comments:
Post a Comment