Former President Goodluck Jonathan was conspicuously absent yesterday at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship campaign in Bayelsa State.
The absence of Jonathan, who failed to send either a written message or a representative, at the rally attended by some PDP governors, further lent credence to the breakdown in relationship between him and the state governor, Seriake Dickson.
Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, was also missing in action at the mega rally that was held at the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion, Yenagoa, the state capital.
But the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus led other national executive members of the party to the occasion, which was attended by mammoth crowd of party faithful.
The Governors of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwa; Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council; Imo, Emeka Ihedioha and Delta states, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, graced the occasion.
Also present were some of the PDP National Assembly members, various youth and women groups, who turned the event to a carnival.
Secondus, who presented the flag of the PDP to the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri, described Bayelsa as a PDP state and warned security agencies against compromising the election.
He said the PDP was on ground in the state, alleging that there was no federal presence of the APC in Bayelsa.
He said the APC took the control of the federal government from former President Goodluck Jonathan, a son of Bayelsa and appealed to voters to shun the APC.