Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has said he decided to protect Bayelsa from sinking with what he described as the “terminal decline” of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
PDP has been enmeshed in an unending crisis, forcing many governors and top elected officials to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The crisis heightened on Monday when rival camps stormed the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja over which camp is the authentic leadership.
It has cast doubt on its planned National Convention, which has already been declared illegal by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Diri, who on Monday officially defected to the APC, said he gave up hope of revamping the PDP following a series of crises in the once ruling party.
He officially declared his defection to the APC during a grand reception held at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa, which was transformed into an APC rally ground with banners, flags, stage platforms and mounted speakers.
The 5,000-capacity arena and its surrounding spaces were filled, as supporters, cultural groups, youth blocks and women’s groups marched from different parts of the state capital waving APC insignia and chanting solidarity lines to celebrate the governor’s switch, which was well attended by APC governors and other top members.
Diri had announced his resignation from the PDP on October 15, revealing that he had worked for years to stabilise the party, but those he described as “undertakers” had taken hold of its structures.
“We tried all we could to save the PDP, but to no avail. Undertakers were very busy burying the PDP,” he said.
“After seeing that the undertakers wanted to bury the PDP, I never wanted my state to be buried alongside the PDP
“So knowing what was going on, after all my consultations with all the leaders, it was incumbent on me as governor to make a decision,” Diri said.
He said the defection was not just a Bayelsa political shift but a wider Ijaw realignment.
“This defection is not a Bayelsa defection. It is the Ijaw nation defecting to APC,” Diri declared.
Diri also referenced his history as an Ijaw activist, saying he had been part of longstanding agitations for the coastal road project linking Lagos to Calabar.
“We as Ijaw people – I was an activist, National Organising Secretary of the Ijo National Congress,” he said.
He said the call for the Lagos–Calabar coastal highway predates the current administration and has been on record since the military era.
“Long in the military regime, we requested a coastal road from Lagos to Calabar,” he stated, displaying an old memorandum from the Ijaw National Congress to General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
“Bring those documents. Memorandum on the demands by the Ijo ethnic nationality submitted to the Head of State… the major demand here was the construction of the coastal roads from Lagos to Calabar,” he said.
Diri argued that President Bola Tinubu had now acted on that demand, a move he said aligned with the long-term aspirations of coastal communities.
“I don’t care how much the coastal road will cost. Today, we have a president who has come to realise that this coastal road is important to the people of the coastal area, the majority of whom are Ijaw people,” he said.
He then asked rhetorically, “Are we going to leave that type of man?”
The governor also dismissed comments that leaving the PDP would cost him his mandate.
“There is only one way a governor will lose his office: by impeachment from the State House of Assembly.
“And in this situation, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the majority of the members are going with me,” he stated.
The ceremony was attended by powerful figures in the ruling party, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, who led the presidential delegation; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin; APC National Chairman; serving ministers; and APC governors from across the country.
Also in attendance were the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno; Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa; Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa; former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole; and Minister of Regional Development Abubakar Momoh.
Diri praised the APC national leadership for accepting him into the fold, saying Bayelsa must align with a national platform that gives it room to breathe politically.
