Anticipated defection of high-ranking members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the May 29 handover date has widened the cracks in the party.
The exodus of PDP members to the APC, which started shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan lost his reelection bid, is part of the political realignment ahead of the 2016 governorship election in the state.
Persons leaving the PDP are said to be friends and associates of the former governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, whose adventure in the APC has paid off following the party’s victory at the centre.
Meanwhile, Jonathan’s kinsmen yesterday reacted angrily against Senator Clever Ikisikpo and Mr. Nadu Karibo, representing Bayelsa East senatorial District and Ogbia federal constituency respectively, for joining the list of defectors.
Ikisikpo and Karibo, alongside other lawmakers and their supporters abandoned Jonathan and the PDP to join Sylva in the APC.
It was gathered that the youth leaders in Ogbia, Jonathan’s Local Government Area, where Ikisikpo and Karibo hail from, met in Abuja yesterday over the development.
The youth leaders declared the defectors as persona non grata, describing their defections as untimely, ill-conceived and wicked.
Speaking, the National Chairman, Ogbia Youth Leaders Forum (OYLF), Mr. Henry Eteli, who confirmed the meeting, said the youths of the area had passed a vote of no confidence in the defectors.
He said the lawmakers lacked electoral value, adding that they performed woefully while in office.
He said the youths vowed to resist the political deceits of the lawmakers, describing them as burden to Ogbia Kingdom.
“It is a betrayal to Mr. President. Mr. President is the PDP national leader, and if his kinsmen could leave before May 29, it is a calculated attempt to run the PDP down and publicly disgrace Mr. President,” he said.
He said the defectors left because they were denied the party’s tickets at the last elections based on the zoning agreement in the state.
Also speaking, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Osom Makbere, described the lawmakers as bread and butter politicians.
“These are politicians without ideological orientation and discipline. These are the man-must-survive kind of politicians. They go wherever meal tickets are guaranteed and are careless about conscience and decorum,” he said.
However, Governor Seriake Dickson has said he was not surprised about the actions of the lawmakers, and predicted that more members of the PDP in the state would leave the party for the APC, insisting that he will remain in the party even if he is the last man standing.
Dickson, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, was particular about Ikisikpo, whom he said had benefited so much from the PDP and Jonathan.
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