ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State have urged Governor Douye Diri to emulate his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts and defect to the APC.
The APC stalwarts also urged all those members who defected to the PDP in error to reconsider their decision and take advantage of the current gale of defections across the country and return to the ruling APC.
APC stakeholders in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state made the gesture to Diri and other PDP stalwarts during a meeting in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Friday.
Those present at the meeting were the Deputy Minority Leader of the state House of Assembly representing Ekeremor Constituency 2, Wilson Dauyegha, a former Deputy Governor and senatorial candidate, Peremobowei Ebebi, local government APC chairman, Eniekenemi Mitin and two chieftains of the party from the area, Alex Ekiotenne and Zee Debekeme.
During the meeting, they also passed a unanimous vote of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and Dauyegha.
The motion for the confidence vote was moved by Fred Akamu and supported by Nicodemus Anthony, a member of the party executive committee in the LGA.
They noted that Buhari and Sylva were “doing very well for the country and Bayelsa State and Dauyegha has been working assiduously to bring dividends of democracy to the grassroots.”
Giving reasons for Diri to dump the PDP, Ebebi in his remarks said the governor would perform better in office under the APC platform.
Ebebi, who lost the December 5, 2020 Bayelsa West senatorial by-election to PDP’s Senator Seriake Dickson, said this was the right time for the governor and previous defectors to move over to the APC as their party had become a sinking ship.
He noted that the APC had been waxing stronger by the day.
He said: “At this point, people should take advantage of the momentum of gale of defections now.
“I am calling on the governor of this state and other people that have mistakenly crossed over recently to PDP to retrace their steps and come back (to APC) now before it is too late. This is the time.
“Governor Diri is not doing badly but if he comes over to the APC, I think he will do better. He should stop welcoming people to the PDP that is a sinking boat. PDP is a sinking boat and nobody should enter a sinking boat no matter the temptation because you will sink along with them.”