Group Urges Governor Diri to Defect to APC
Jide Dominic writes Group Urges Governor Diri to Defect to APC
A group under the auspices of Concerned Bayelsa Stakeholders Forum ( CBSF) has, in strong terms, urged Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri to cross- carpet to the rulling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the interest of the state at large.
The Convener of the group, Wisdom Ikuli who stated this while speaking with newsmen in Yenagoa further noted that there is the ultimate need for Gov Diri to align with the the current trend in the political dynamics at the center, stressing that this would go a long way in providing sustainable positive impact to Bayelsans as a whole.
Wisdom Ikuli equally opined that Gov Diri cannot work in isolation as far as South/South politics is concerned as all the governors in the region who were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had defected to APC, reiterating that the defection should be seen as a step in the right direction as it would attract more federal infrastructural projects to the state.
He specifically mentioned that a good percentage of the ongoing Nembe / Brass road project had already been taken over by the federal government, positing that the time has come for Gov Diri to listen to the collective voices of not only Bayelsans but also other residents of the state who are daily clamouring for the governor to defect without delay which would eventually foster the completion of Agge Deep Seaport and Brass NLG projects.
The group’s convener who also doubles as the Technical Adviser to the governor on Media and Public Affairs emphasised that the old Rivers state was built by King Alfred Diette Spiff and the late Chief Melford Okilo who are illustrious sons of Ijaw land, insisting that Ijaw ethnic nationality is the fourth largest ethnic group in the country and can no longer be tolerated as a minority group.
According to him, Gov Diri has been trying his best to toe the path of the legacies left behind by these two great Ijaw personalities with visible transformational projects scattered across the state.
While responding to a question bothering on the internal political wranglings within the APC, Wisdom Ikuli opined that the party’s structure from the ward to state levels would automatically be handed over to the governor after perfecting the defection process, asserting that Gov Diri has the political capacity to fix all the rancour and acrimonies within the party in the state.
He however pointed out that CBSF is a political group that cut across every part of the state, including non indigenes, noting that it is a formidable and critical stakeholder in the political equation of the state.
The media mogul reiterated that since Gov Diri came into office, a reasonable number of projects like youth empowerment programmes, education, skill acquisition and the three senatorial roads among others have been embarked upon.
