Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, on Monday officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, declaring that his decision was to save Bayelsa from what he described as the “terminal decline” of the PDP.
Speaking at a grand reception held at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa, Diri said his move was guided by the need to protect the state’s political future.
The stadium was turned into an APC rally ground, adorned with banners, flags, and mounted speakers, as supporters filled the 5,000-capacity venue and its surroundings.
Party faithful, cultural troupes, youth groups, and women’s associations marched across the state capital, waving APC insignia and chanting songs of solidarity to celebrate the governor’s defection.
Diri, who resigned from the PDP on October 15, said he had tried to keep the party alive but was disappointed by the actions of those he described as “undertakers” who had taken control of its structures.
“We tried all we could to save the PDP but to no avail. Undertakers were very busy to bury the PDP,” he said.
“After seeing that the undertakers wanted to bury the PDP, I never wanted my state to be buried alongside with PDP. So knowing what was going on, after all my consultations with all the leaders, it was incumbent on me as governor to make a decision,” Diri stated.
The governor said his defection signified not just a Bayelsa political movement but a broader shift among the Ijaw people.
“This defection is not a Bayelsa defection. It is the Ijaw nation defecting to APC,” he declared.
Reflecting on his background as an Ijaw activist, Diri recalled his involvement in earlier agitations for the Lagos–Calabar coastal road project.
“We as Ijaw people, I was an activist, National Organising Secretary of the Ijo National Congress,” he said.
He explained that the demand for the Lagos–Calabar coastal highway predates the current administration and had been on the table since the military era.
“Long in the military regime, we requested a coastal road from Lagos to Calabar,” he stated, while displaying an old memorandum from the Ijaw National Congress addressed to General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
“Bring those documents. Memorandum on the demands by the Ijo ethnic nationality submitted to the Head of State… the major demand here was the construction of the coastal roads from Lagos to Calabar,” he added.
Diri commended President Bola Tinubu for taking steps to actualise that demand, describing the project as vital to the aspirations of coastal communities.
“I don’t care how much the coastal road will cost. Today, we have a President who has come to realise that this coastal road is important to the people of the coastal area, majority of whom are Ijaw people,” he said.
He then asked rhetorically, “Are we going to leave that type of man?”
Responding to speculations that his defection could cost him his mandate, the governor said there was no constitutional basis for such fears.
“There is only one way a governor will lose his office, by impeachment from the State House of Assembly. And in this situation, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the majority of the members are going with me,” he stated.
The event was attended by several high-profile APC leaders, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Bola Tinubu; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin; the APC National Chairman; ministers; and governors from across the country.
Also present were Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and Minister of Regional Development Abubakar Momoh.
Diri thanked the APC national leadership for embracing him, saying Bayelsa needed to align with a national party that could secure its political and developmental future.
