- “I could not stand by and watch Bayelsa sink with the party.”
- his defection as not merely political but symbolic of a wider realignment
- he had worked tirelessly to rescue the opposition party
Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing the need to protect the state from what he described as the “terminal decline” of his former party.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the governor announced his decision on Monday during a packed ceremony at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa, which was transformed into a massive APC rally ground.
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Thousands of supporters, cultural dancers, and women and youth groups thronged the venue, waving party flags and chanting solidarity songs.
Diri, who resigned from the PDP on October 15, said he had worked tirelessly to rescue the opposition party but was forced to leave after it became clear that internal decay had set in.
“We did our best to keep the PDP alive, but certain forces were determined to bury it,” he said. “I could not stand by and watch Bayelsa sink with the party.”
He described his defection as not merely political but symbolic of a wider realignment within the Ijaw nation.
The governor also lauded President Bola Tinubu for reviving the Lagos–Calabar coastal highway project, a development he said fulfilled a long-standing demand of coastal communities.
Top APC figures, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and several governors, attended the event to welcome Diri into the ruling party.
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