Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was granted state pardon by President Goodluck Jonathan last week, is rounding off plans to contest for a seat in the Senate by 2015, according to fresh facts obtained by Huhuonline.com.
President Jonathan’s pardon has spawned widespread public opprobrium, to such extent that the United States is reported to have threatened a review of some of its alliances with the country. Already, President of Bill Gates Foundation, who was scheduled to visit the country later in the month, has cancelled the trip.
After defending the president’s pardon, his special assistant on public affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe had declared Alamieyeseigha free to do anything, including contesting for any position.
A source who spoke with Huhuonline.com disclosed that the president was privy to Alamieyeseigha’s plan to contest for Senate in the forthcoming election.
“This was the primary reason he was granted state pardon,” he said. “You know with the pardon, he is qualified to contest for any position in the country. His posters are already flooding Bayelsa Central Senatorial zone.”
The source, a journalist and member of the former governor’s campaign team, explained that the plan has already been sealed, as compensation for Alamieyeseigha’s work in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The poster shows that Alamieyeseigha is contesting under the PDP with emphasis that he is “tested and trusted” and that he is “pardoned for service.”
Victoria Nuland, a spokesperson for the US State Department, had stressed that Washington viewed Jonathan’s pardon as a “setback for the fight against corruption, and also for our ability to play the strong role we’ve played in supporting rule of law and legal institution-building in Nigeria, which is very important for the future of the country obviously.”
She added that the U.S. had made it clear to Nigeria that the move puts a question mark on the kinds of work that the foreign country has been trying to do with Nigeria; and that by implication, the U.S. may begin to cut its donations to the country.
