Even with all the show of might and muscle flexing by George Turnah, coordinator of the NEW Associates who boasts of his readiness to shut down Yenagoa for the FCT Minister, Dr Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, TNN has confirmed that the minister will not be in the Bayelsa State capital on Saturday, for the rally.
In fact, a very close ally of Wike confided in TNN that the former Rivers State governor had nothing to do with the planned rally and would not be there.
The Wike confidant said whereas Wike and some of his followers had joined him from Abuja to Port Harcourt for an event, the minister would depart Port Harcourt on Saturday morning back to his Abuja base.
The rally was supposed to have held on April 12, but a state high court had ordered that the event should not hold, even as the state governor, Senator Douye Diri had put security agencies on red alert, to enforce the court order.
Despite the court order, Turnah who now parades himself as the caretaker committee chairman of the PDP in the state, said the rally would go on as planned and even threatened to go resist those who may try to stop his rally.
The Wike ally who spoke to TNN on Friday night said Turnah’s posture may have been a function of his beef with the governor.
Penultimate week, a former PDP chairman in the state who was working with Turnah on the rally had told TNN that Turnah was fighting a personal battle against the governor.
As at Friday evening, Turnah was still mobilising his followers ahead of the Saturday rally.
Apart from Wike, TNN also confirmed that neither the minister of state, petroleum, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, nor the managing director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku who were listed by Turnah among those to be honoured, would attend the rally.
