Douye Diri
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa has described the PDP as a sinking ship, stressing that his defection, alongside majority of its cabinet members, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is to attract development to the state.
Diri said aside his former party becoming a sinking ship, he defected to align with the desire of Bayelsans which is to bring development closer to the people, a desire, he said President Bola Tinubu has continued to meet.
Diri was officially received into the APC by the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima at a rally in Yenagoa on Monday which was attended by several high-profile figures, including the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, Hope Uzodimma of Imo, and Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom.
By his latest defection, five out of the six South-south states are now APC states. The 7th state, Rivers, is a hybrid state, with both APC and PDP content. Political watchers call it the unofficial APC state.
Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, APC National Chairman, presented the party’s flag to Diri, declaring him the new leader of the APC in Bayelsa.
According to Yilwatda, “Bayelsa state has spoken. Today, Bayelsa state is APC, Bayelsa state is too critical for us to leave it in the hands of the PDP.
“The roads have been constructed. We saw it. We saw the fishes in the fish farms. We saw agriculture booming. We saw trading. We saw everything doing good.
“Therefore, governor Diri is welcome to the family of the APC. I can now give him this flag as the leader of the party in the state.
“Take this broom as a symbol of our party. Sweep out PDP, and ensure that the votes are swept in 2027,” he said.
In his speech after the flag presentation, Diri said his defection was a collective decision by the Ijaw people.
“On Oct. 15, I announced my resignation from the People’s Democratic Party, and I ended up by saying the obvious reasons.
“Today, you will hear some of those obvious reasons. Your Excellency, the Vice President, the people you are seeing are not just Bayelsa people alone.
“They are Ijaws from Delta State in their numbers. There are Ijaws from Ondo State and there are Ijaws from Edo State in their numbers.
“This defection is not a Bayelsa defection. It is the Ijaw nation defecting to the APC,” he said.
Shettima commended governor Diri for taken a wise decision by joining the APC, with over 95 percent of Bayelsa people.
He said that the governor had done well for Bayelsa people in all sectors by delivering the dividends of democracy, especially to the grassroots.
