Guber poll: Bayelsa PDP youth leader, Gov Diri’s aides dump party

Some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, including the PDP Youth Leader, Nunieh Odede, have dumped the party ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state.

Odede and others switched allegiance from Governor Douye Diri to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, ahead of the election in Bayelsa State.

Odede announced his resignation from the PDP in a letter sighted on Monday, September 18, 2023, while other principal aides of the governor also resigned their positions to campaign for Sylva.

A statement issued on Monday by Sylva’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Julius Bokoru, confirmed that Odede held a meeting with the APC governorship candidate.

Bokoru quoted Odede as saying at the meeting: “We have spent years with the PDP and we built the party to where it is.

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“It is imperative we move on now in the light of what is happening in the state.

“Bayelsa is in comatose and we cannot keep doing the old things and expect to get it right.

“Our resignation from PDP, honestly, is to save our dear state from further ruins.”

He also quoted Sylva as commending the courage of Odede and other defectors, who he said chose the progress and development of the state over selfish gains.

Sylva said: “Youths are always the driving force of every society, youths also embody and give a trajectory of what the future would look like.

“Your decision today is heroic and selfless.

“You have placed state over self and beyond even the elections. You instill in us all that Bayelsa state is bound to do well.”

He listed those who defected from PDP to APC to include the Director of the Bayelsa State Environmental Authority, Abiah Oyisor; and the governor’s representative in Yenegoa Local Government Area, Ayaye Obuma.

The other aides of the governor were Itu Goodluck, Timipa, and Olali.

The Star