Lamido, Dickson, other govs absent at Jonathan’s campaign inauguration

By Ahmed Abubakar

There was apprehension among members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Abuja, following the absence of some of the governors of the party at the inauguration of the Presidential Campaign Organisation of the party yesterday.

The organisation, headed by a former National Chairman of the party, Sen. Ahmadu Ali, is saddled with the responsibility of selling the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, to Nigerians for the February 14 presidential election.

Only a handful of the governors were in attendance, while about half of them did not show up for the occasion.

No reason was given for the absence of the governors. Among the governors at the event were Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), James Ngilari (Adamawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Ibrahim Dankwambo ( Gombe State).

However, governors Theodore Orji (Abia), Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Sullivan Chime(Enugu), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Martin Elechi (Enugu) were absent from the inauguration.

Also not part of the inauguration were Idris Wada( Kogi), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Jonah Jang (Plateau).

Peoples Daily saw many of the bigwigs from the party discussing the developments, especially when some of the absentee governors were put in charge of the campaign in their zones.

Lamido is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the presidential campaign in the North-West, while Mimiko is in charge of South-West and Orji, South-East.

However, the President later met behind closed doors with the PDP governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting, which was also attended by ministers from states where there are no PDP governors, was meant to strategise ahead of the commencement of the presidential campaign.