15 Reason I Left PDP - Gov Douye Diri

[Abigail pereowei]

Governor Diri, in his 23-Point address, outlined 15 reasons he left the PDP, which centred on Tinubu’s support to Bayelsa and the mutually assured destruction the crises in PDP had assumed.

He said: “We tried all we could to save the PDP but to no avail. Undertakers were very busy burying the PDP. After seeing that the undertakers wanted to bury the PDP, I never wanted my state to be buried alongside it.

“This defection is not a Bayelsa defection; it is the Ijaw nation defecting to the APC.

“Some ignorant people said I had lost my office. But the only way a governor can lose his seat is through impeachment … and in this case, the Speaker and majority of the Assembly members are with me….

“Somebody had to take the decision and I took it on behalf of the state. Some of you might not understand now, but later it will be clear.”

The 15 reasons are:

*Unity and common purpose that sustained PDP had been eroded

*Internal dynamics made renewal of PDP difficult

*Undertakers were bent on burying PDP, I don’t want Bayelsa buried with PDP

I don’t want our NASS and Assembly members to be caught in PDP quagmire and lack platform for re-election

*South-South used be all PDP. I used to be chairman of South-South PDP governors. All others have left, I became chairman of myself

*I joined APC based on wide consultation and careful consideration in the interest of Bayelsa people

President Tinubu is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is a friend of Bayelsa and supporter of Ijaw people

*Tinubu awarded contract and started building Lagos-calabar Coastal Road, one of Ijaw Nation’s long-standing demands

*Tinubu didn’t use Federal might to abort my re-election

*Nembe-Brass Road had been on the drawing board for 60 years under past governments but received prompt attention after I went to Tinubu

*Tinubu waived tax burden for Bayelsa on importation of 60MW gas turbines

*The APC-led FG endorsed Bayelsa’s Agge Deep Seaport project

We need to naturally align with a leadership that is prepared to act in Bayelsa’s best interest and advance our people’s welfare

*With Tinubu supporting Bayelsa’s development, I have no reason to remain in a sinking ship

No division in Bayelsa APC, I have been accepted by the whole APC family.
As the leader of APC in Bayelsa now, Diri declared: “I am not a bossy type. I have come to unite us so that we can work together and produce a 99 per cent result in Bayelsa come 2027.”

Who moved with Diri?

Those who moved with Diri to the APC are 21 of 24 members of the Bayelsa House of Assembly, two of the three serving senators Konbowei Benson and Benson Agadaga, and all council chairmen among others.

Implications

Once again, Bayelsa has been reunited with the party at the centre since 2015 following the loss of the PDP, via former President Goodluck Jonathan, who incidentally hails from Bayelsa.

Diri’s repeated reference to “undertakers” burying the PDP conveys his perception that his former party had been internally captured and weakened.

For the APC, the significance is enormous: Diri is now the fourth sitting governor this year to leave the PDP for the APC (after Oborevwori of Delta, Eno of Akwa Ibom, and Peter Mbah of Enugu).
In effect, the old PDP bastion of Bayelsa has delivered a seismic blow to the party’s hold in the South-South region.

What this means for Bayelsa

The spectacle at the Samson Siasia stadium was more than theatre — it signals a political realignment with potentially huge implications for patronage, federal projects and internal state politics.
For the APC, absorbing a governor from a firmly PDP state strengthens its federal reach and shows growing dominance.

For the PDP, losing one of its few remaining strongholds deepens its crisis and raises fresh questions about its viability.
Governor Diri, on his part, has taken a risk and whether the move will deliver for the people of Bayelsa as he outlined is left to be seen.

At the end of the day, Monday’s event in Yenagoa was not simply a defection ceremony, but a statement of political power. Governor Diri, flanked by the Vice President, Senate President and a host of governors, declared his new allegiance.

He appealed to history and to his people: “If the party I once led can no longer serve Bayelsa, then Bayelsa must find a new path.” The question now is whether this path will lead to development and prosperity—or simply a change of colours. Time will tell.


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