Bayelsa group to Alaibe: Stop using Buhari, Obasanjo’s names for fund raising

The ambition of a former Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ndutimi Alaibe, to contest the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State may have turned controversial with a socio-cultural group, Ijaw Patriotic Front, accusing him of using the name of President Muhammadu Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to raise funds in a manner that could embarrass the two leaders.
According to the IPF, Alaibe has been allegedly going round to some top executives in the banking and financial sector, soliciting for funds on the guise that both Buhari and Obasanjo had promised to back his governorship ambition.
Spokesman of the group, Sotonye Amachree, an engineer, said on Monday in Yenagoa that Alaibe’s action was likely to offend the sensibilities of the two leaders because it amounted to dropping their names in a bid to get some influential persons to buy into his governorship aspiration.
He said feelers from some highly-placed persons in some quarters had already decried such behaviour which it said was not approved by both leaders.
Amachree said: “Now, this is unbecoming and it is unacceptable. We frown at Alaibe’s deceptive posturing which for all who are close to the incumbent and former presidents will certainly raise objection to it because it is an embarrassment to their esteemed personalities. Of course, it all shows Alaibe’s desperation and unbridled quest for power.
“It is really a serious issue because in a situation where some respected persons in the society have drawn our attention to the fact that they were approached by Alaibe with the story that he was being supported by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for governor and only to find out that there is no truth whatsoever in such a claim is most embarrassing. It totally negates everything we stand for as Ijaw people”
The group has, therefore, cautioned Alaibe to desist from such behaviour which it claimed was capable of “inflicting irreparable damage to his reputation and by extension the reputation of the average Ijaw man”.
Amachree added: “The Ijaw nation is known and respected for its courage, uprightness and always standing for justice and truth. A highly-placed Ijaw leader like Alaibe should know better not to denigrate these high principles and ideals that we hold dear”.