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President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted the resignation of his special adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Timi Alaibe.

Mr Alaibe had
informed the President in a letter that he is resigning his appointment
with effect from today to contest for the governorship of Bayelsa State
in the 2011 general elections.

In the past weeks, some ministers have also exited the cabinet with special assistants now towing the same line.

Until his resignation, Mr Alaibe was in charge of the amnesty programme for repentant militants in the Niger Delta.

A statement signed
by the special adviser to the President, Ima Niboro said following the
vacancy created, Mr Jonathan has appointed two other senior special
assistants.

The President
appointed Emmanuel Egbagbe as Senior Special Assistant to the President
on Infrastructure Development Matters and Saidu Yusuf Dutsi as Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Political Matters.

Until his
appointment, Mr Egbagbe, who holds a Masters of Sciences Degree in
Water Resources Systems Engineering from the University of California
and was the best graduating student of Civil Engineering at the
University of Lagos in 1977, was the Director of Infrastructure
Development at the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

Mr Dutsi, who holds
a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Administration from Bayero
University, Kano has held various elective and Public posts in his
native Katsina State. Until his new appointment, he was the Special
Assistant on Political Matters to the Katsina State Governor.

“Both appointments,
which take effect from January 1, 2011, are to fill vacancies created
by the appointment of Femi Ajayi (former SSA to the President on Social
Development) as Director-General of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency and the death of Polycarp Nwite (former SSA to the President on
Political Matters),” Mr Niboro said.

Mr. Alaibe later picked up the nomination form of Labour Party to contest the Bayelsa State’s governorship election in 2011.

He picked the form
at the national secretariat of the party where he was received by the
National chairman of Labour party, Chief Dan Iwuanyanwu.

His entrance into the race makes him the main challenger to the
incumbent governor, Timipre Sylva of the Peoples Democratic Party.