Sylva Dares Jonathan, Flags Off Campaign

Barring any hitches, Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State has decided to dare President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Headquarters of his party by going ahead to flag off his governorship campaign tomorrow at the Samson Siasia Sports complex,Yenagoa.

P.M.NEWS can confirm that plans are afoot by the embattled governor to flag off his campaign despite the refusal of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to nominate him as one of the party’s aspirants for the 19 November primary.

We gathered this morning that after intense lobbying and consultations, all the PDP Governors in the country and all National Assembly members from Bayelsa State, except Seriake Henry Dickson, are queuing behind Sylva.

An aide of the governor said the PDP governors argued that the National Secretariat of the party has not been able to justify the reason for refusing to clear Sylva after he was cleared by the Gubernatorial Election Screening Committee in Port Harcourt and issued a certificate.

They argued that merely citing “security reasons” is speculative and mere conjecture, which cannot be proven in law.

The PDP governors and members of the National Assembly have argued that no panel or court of competent jurisdiction has indicted Governor Sylva of any crime and so the fate of the governor can befall anybody based on mere hearsay.

When P.M.NEWS called Mr. Nathan Egba, Commissioner for Information on phone, he confirmed the flag off of the campaign tomorrow.

“Yes. I can confirm that the governor will flag off his campaign tomorrow.”

Asked if the governor has cleared all issues concerning his nomination, the commissioner said: “I don’t know anything about that. All I know is that the governor is flagging off campaigns tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Seriake Henry Dickson, Sylva’s arch-rival, has set up a contact committee ahead of his flag off campaign.

Yenagoa, the state capital, was calm this morning after clashes days ago by the aspirants’ supporters left several people dead.

—Okafor Ofiebor/    Port Harcourt