…Inokoba, Alaibe, Lokpobiri and over 2,000 defects from PDP to APC in Bayelsa
It was another carnival in Yenagoa, the state capital of Bayelsa, as many of the PDP staunch members defected to the ruling party at a well attended ceremony. Col. Sam Inokoba (rtd.), the embattled Chairman of the Peoples Democratic in Bayelsa State, former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission, Timi Alaibe and Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, on Saturday, led over 2,000 other members of the PDP to the All Progressives Congress.
Other prominent leaders of the PDP who defected to the opposition party were former acting governors in the state, Mr. Nestor Binabo and Mr. Werenipre Seibarugu, as well as former House of Representatives members, Dr. Stella Dorgu, Nado Karibo, Jonathan Omu, Diekivie Ikiogha, among others.
At an APC rally in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the home of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Chairman, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; former Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni; former Governor of Bayelsa State; Mr. Timipre Sylva; the Chairman, APC, Bayelsa, Mr. Tiwei Orunimighe, and other leaders of the ruling party received the defectors at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, Yenagoa, venue of the reception. Bayelsa-born artiste, Timaya, entertained the mammoth crowd at the stadium.
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Inokoba, who was suspended by the state Working Committee of the PDP for alleged financial impropriety, said he led the defectors to the APC because the PDP had abandoned the tenets of good leadership.
“PDP in Bayelsa State today is bedevilled by intra-party activities, intimidation, mismanagament, manipulation of the party structures by the leader of the state and lack of internal democracy,” he said.
Addressing the crowd, Odigie-Oyegun said the defection was historic as it witnessed the decapitation of the PDP in the state.
But the elders from Bayelsa State and founding members of the PDP at a news conference on Saturday described the defections as a charade, saying that the gang-up against the party would fail woefully.
The elders, who met to review the ongoing defections of PDP stalwarts to the APC ahead of the poll, said they were not losing sleep over the development.
One of the elders and PDP founding father, Mr. George Fente, said persons who had decamped from the PDP and others who left today (Saturday) after enjoying all the party’s benefits were ungrateful and selfish.
Info Trust reliably gathered that the defection was to spite the former President, Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP leadership for their high-handedness and favoritism to some members while they were in power. A source who confided in Info Trust disclosed that the former First Lady is making effort to ensure that her candidate that has also defected to APC emerges as the gubernatorial candidate. According to the source, “Patience is working hard to ensure that head or tail, she wins. She is covertly sponsoring a candidate in APC camp as well as giving support to the PDP in the state.”
