Last Thursday, George Abela turned up at the Allied Newspapers building in Valletta 15 minutes early for an interview scheduled with The Sunday Times two days earlier.
But the 60-year-old former Labour Party deputy leader walked into the interview room, took a seat, readjusted his tie, and pointed to the voice recorder.
"I don't think we'll be needing that," he said in a calm tone, as he opened a letter sent by the MLP's Electoral Commission to all the leadership aspirants.
In a letter dated April 1, those contesting the election for the Labour Party's top job on June 5 were temporarily instructed to refrain from giving any comments to the media or else face disqualification.
Dr Abela said he could not give the interview for the time being, or he risked being eliminated from the contest. Nevertheless, pending clarifications about the letter, he insisted he would not be silenced and appeared on news bulletins hours later protesting against the surprise directive.
Inexplicably, the directive was reversed by the Appeals Board late on Thursday evening, after members purportedly came under pressure from different party officials after news of the directive was leaked to the press.
Contacted yesterday, Dr Abela said he had only confirmed over the telephone yesterday morning that the directive had in fact been lifted.
"How can you silence people taking part in a contest? I still want to know who ordered this directive and why. It's very obvious that the directive was reversed because of the media pressure," he said, maintaining that the order was given to put at a disadvantage those who had not yet announced their candidacy.
Dr Abela insisted yesterday that it was still his intention to contest the MLP leadership election, claiming that the support from delegates was still pouring in.
Dr Abela has been at loggerheads with the party's central administration for years, especially after quitting his post before the premature general election in 1998. Following the March 8 election and after Alfred Sant decided to quit as leader after a third successive electoral defeat, Dr Abela said that the party's paid-up members should also play a role in choosing its leader.
But speaking on Xarabank recently, MLP general secretary Jason Micallef made it very clear that he will not be supporting Dr Abela's proposal, indicating a clear rift as the leadership race hots up.