Okafor Ofiebor.
All Progressive Congress, APC, had a big harvest today in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State. Among the big fish that decamped to it from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are Col. Sam Inokoba (retired), the state Chairman; Mr. Timi Alaibe, a former Managing Director of NDDC; Senator Heineken Lokpobri and other prominent politicians and their supporters.
An overwhelmed National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun who received the new members at the Sampson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenagoa, said that with the calibre of defectors from the PDP in the State, the ruling party is now an empty shell under the leadership of Governor Seriake Dickson.
Oyegun, who led National Officials of the APC, including the Deputy National Chairman and a former Ekiti State Governor, Olusegun Oni to the Samson Siasia Stadium, said: “Who is left in the PDP? Nobody. People in Bayelsa are making history for the South South zone. APC leaders in Bayelsa state are very loyal. They fought gallantly against the false claim that ‘He is our own’ (alluding to former President Goodluck Jonathan). When they overcame such false campaign, their eyes opened and they saw recklessness, under performance and failure. It was only Edo that survived their onslaught. Can we allow ourselves to lose out? When we vote, we bring back Bayelsa to the mainstream of politics.”
In his remark, the State APC leader and Former Governor of the State, Chief Timipre Sylva, said: “We have had too much division and the division was created by parochial people. As we come together, we have seen enough of division. Sea pirates have taken over the creeks and waterways. They claim, they will provide us security. But we told them to provide security to the people of the State. The era of prosperity has come. Poverty will soon go away. The PDP has been decapitated at the national level. Development was not brought to us during their time in office. The East-West road was abandoned. If they claim we should vote for the PDP, they should show us road. If they cannot show us, they should vote for APC.”
Alaibe said the defection of notable members of the PDP shows that the needed change has come to the state. “This is common sense revolution. It is not change for the sake of it. We are changing from poverty to prosperity. We are changing from lies and deceit. We are changing from ‘wayo’. A state as rich as Bayelsa cannot tolerate poverty. It is not our portion that our streets show poverty. How can one provide oil and gas and not benefit from it? Change has come to Bayelsa.”
Inokoba who just joined APC, said the PDP administration under the leadership of Dickson has witnessed misrule and abandoned good governance, saying “the Labour of our forefathers has been rubbished. Bayelsa restoration has become retrogression. Bayelsa PDP has become a Fuji House of Commotion.”
Reacting to the defection of the PDP Chairman, the Publicity Secretary of the state PDP, Osom Makbere, said though his defection is of no effect to the party, “it is good riddance to rubbish. We knew before now, that he was working for the opposition party and that is why we insisted that he would not be returned as the state Chairman of our Party. It is not a surprise to us.”