Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Seriake Dickson, on Thursday formally received over 3,000 decampees from the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by the former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Gideon Ekeuwei, and a two-time Commissioner for Information, Chief Nathan Egba, to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fold.

Speaking at a grand reception in the state capital, Yenagoa, Governor Dickson used the opportunity to reaffirm his call on the Federal Government not to undermine the peace and stability of the state and the Niger Delta as a whole using state apparatus.

He lamented that within a short period of time, Bayelsa state had witnessed the posting and redeployment of five Commissioners of Police and three Directors of State Security, stressing that the development portends a threat to the prevailing peace of the state.

He said: “Just yesterday I was told that the fourth Commissioner of Police that they sent to Bayelsa State has been redeployed and they have brought the one they claim to be their party member to police the state so that they can use cult boys to kill and destabilise our state.

“But my message to President Muhammadu Buhari is that he should not allow the authority of any state to be undermined. He should not also allow the peace and stability of any state to be subverted for flimsy partisan considerations.”

Governor Dickson also noted that the decampees were returning to a reformed PDP where discipline and party supremacy are sacrosanct and therefore charged them to be loyal and work as a team for the success of the party.

In his remarks, the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, represented by the South-South Zonal Chairman, Elder Emmanuel Ogidi, urged the people to vote massively for the party’s presidential, state and national assembly candidates in the forthcoming elections.

Also speaking at the event, Chief Alaibe described APC as a party of empty promises that do not have anything to offer the people of the Niger Delta in terms of development.

The former NDDC boss admitted that he and other defectors made a costly mistake by leaving the PDP which has always promoted the interests of the Ijaw nation.

Elder Ekeuwei, Mr. Egba-Ologo and former state PDP chairman, Chief Rufus Abadi, also expressed remorse and pledged loyalty to the PDP.

In his welcome address, the state chairman of the PDP, Mr. Cleopas Moses, described Governor Dickson as a political leader with a large heart that has worked hard to stabilise the party both at the state and national levels and urged other politicians to emulate him.

•Photo by Lucky Francis shows Governor Seriake Dickson (left) welcoming Chief Timi Alaibe (2nd right) during a grand rally to welcome him and other returnees back to PDP at the Peace Park, Yenagoa, while Chief Rufus Abadi (right) looks on.

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