By Ayo Yusuf
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State’s visit to President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, shortly after the Supreme Court verdict on Thursday, was not an endorsement of the judgement, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, Mr Ebiye Ogoli, has said.
Mr. Ogoli who debunked insinuations that the visit by the state governor was to specifically congratulate President Tinubu on his legal victory at the Supreme Court, said it was mere coincidence that Governor Diri was at the villa when the Supreme Court verdict was read.
Speaking with reporters on Friday, the PDP official strived to clear the air and correct the impression that the governor visited President Tinubu to felicitate with him over the verdict and had thus engaged in anti-party activity.
The apex court had on Thursday delivered judgement in favour of the All Progressives Congress and President 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, Governor Diri was seen on national television shaking hands with President Tinubu in his Villa 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 Governor Diri had visited Tinubu to rejoice with him over the judgement.
But Mr. 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 seeking an official meeting with the president in order to discuss issues concerning Bayelsa State.
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 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 Alhaji Abubakar, stressing that the judgement and the visit were all coincidental.
Mr. 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 Governor 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.”
