Isenah Challenges George Turnah’s Legitimacy as Bayelsa PDP Chairman, Calls for His Arrest
By Jonah Fubara, YENAGOA – Former Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bayelsa State Housing and Property Development Authority, Tonye Emmanuel Isenah, PhD, has challenged the legitimacy of George Turnah as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State.
Isenah, in a statement shared on social media, insisted that Solomon Aguananagha remains the legitimate chairman of the party, arguing that he was elected through the party’s congresses before some prominent members defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him, the congresses were conducted from the ward to the state level, with delegates, including Turnah, participating in the process that produced the Solomon Aguananagha-led State Executive Committee.
He maintained that Aguananagha’s four-year tenure had not expired and that there was no legitimate basis for Turnah to assume the position of state chairman.
Isenah further questioned how Turnah, who he claimed only emerged as South-South Zonal Secretary through what he described as a controversial zonal election, subsequently became the state chairman.
“When people say George Turnah is chairman of PDP in Bayelsa, I laugh. He is not and cannot be chairman of PDP in Bayelsa,” Isenah stated.
He accused Turnah of impersonating the state chairman and called on Aguananagha to take steps to have him arrested.
“As far as I’m concerned, he is impersonating the chairman of the party in the state as such he should be arrested by Solomon Aguananagha,” he added.
However, Turnah’s emergence as Bayelsa PDP chairman followed the party’s state elective congress held on March 14, 2026, after the dissolution of the previous State Working Committee in April 2025.
Reports indicated that the congress was conducted through a consensus arrangement, with party delegates affirming Turnah as chairman. His emergence was also subsequently reported as ratified by the party’s National Executive Committee.
Isenah’s comments have brought renewed attention to the leadership dispute within the Bayelsa PDP, particularly over the legitimacy of the party’s previous and current state executive structures.
