[size=14pt]Yar’Adua loyalists lobby to join Jonathan’s campaign[/size]
•As President clears air on relationship with govs
Written by Idowu Samuel, Abuja with Agency Reports
Sunday, 17 October 2010

Some loyalists of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who for some time have been in political limbo following the sudden death

of their mentor are now set to re-launch themselves into the mainstream politics and they have been said to be banking on former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a joker for actualising their dreams.

Most of the Yar’Adua henchmen who wielded enormous powers while he lived, had planned to contest high political offices including the governorship and Senatorial seats in their respective states, but these dreams dissolved rapidly in the face of Yar’Adua’s exit from the corridors of power.

Sunday Tribune can report that three of the stupendously rich Yar’Adua men have suddenly been all over Obasanjo, whom they have been entreating with pleas of assistance to get them hooked up with President Jonathan so as to play prominent roles in his campaign agenda.

To get Obasanjo’s attention, the ex-ministers who headed the most juicy ministries during Yar’Adua tenure, had to lobby some top Obasanjo’s aides who served in his regime as special advisers and ministers and who still keep close contact with him, to help them seek the face of the reigning President.

Two of the ministers, it was learnt, had been taken to Obasanjo twice at Ota, following stiff pressure which they mounted on his aides, and had appealed to him earnestly to assist them overcome the problem of exclusion which they were currently facing in politics generally, disclosing to the Ota farmer that they still had keen interest in serving their fatherland.

The former ministers, who all hailed from North-West zone of the country, in their different encounters with Obasanjo, lamented that the political structures that they had built in their respective states had been dismantled by the state governors in control, hence the need to re-launch.

An insider at the meetings which the Yar’Adua’s men had with Obasanjo, disclosed to Sunday Tribune that on each occasion, the ex-ministers were very sober and portrayed themselves as politicians who had suffered so much neglect and that they appeared to be with believable intention to make restitution if given another chance to serve.

The source, who is a member of the Senate, disclosed that Obasanjo surprisingly gave them audience but was smart enough not to promise them instant result, just as he bade them to give him sufficient time to network on their behalf for the actualisation of their requests.

One of the former ministers had engaged the governor of his state in a media war for some time without success, and had to make recourse to Obasanjo to help present his frustration to President Jonathan, so as to obtain succour.

Sunday Tribune findings revealed that the former ministers are not aversed to working for Jonathan to attain his presidential ambition, a bid they see as a veritable opportunity for them to break into political circles in their states and through which they could rebuild their political structures at the state level.

It is not certain what disposition President Jonathan would accord the attempt by the Yar’Adua henchmen to embrace him, following the roles each of them reportedly played in frustrating his ascension to power during the period of the former President’s absence from the country.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan said in Owerri, on Friday, that he had no problem with any state governor, even as he advised politicians to learn to play the game according to the rule and to avoid politics of blackmail.

Jonathan made the remark at a state banquet, organised in his honour by Imo State government, in reaction to speculations that he had strained relations with some state governors.

He said such insinuation was “part of political set up,” adding that, “There is no basis for anyone to insinuate that I have problem with any governor.

“I have no problem with any state governor or government.

“Even the Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki, who wants my job, I have no problem with him.

Before he declared his intention, he came to me in Abuja (to inform me) that he wanted my job. He came to tell me even before some of his colleague governors got to know about it. Assuming we are having problems as people insinuate, he would not have come to tell me,’’ the President said.

Jonathan said Imo State was his second home and assured the people and government of the state that the Federal Government would work with them for the development of the state.

He commended Governor Ikedi Ohakim for the good job he was doing in the state and noted that both the federal and state governments were moving in the right direction.

Earlier in his remarks, Ohakim had declared total support of the South-East zone for the president, saying “the entire Igbo land is with you.”

He welcomed the president and his entourage to the state and assured them of peaceful and remarkable working visit.

The president had on arrival in the state, inaugurated Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Drive, built by the state government in memory of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/index.php/front-page-articles/2318-yaradua-loyalists-lobby-to-join-jonathans-campaign-as-president-clears-air-on-relationship-with-govs

Fine as long as they are not part of the cabal, but if they were, let them lobby on till doomsday.