Bayelsa PDP expels nine members, tasks others on discipline

• It is an act of impunity, says presidential aide
• Action is for discipline, Governor Dickson restates

THE Bayelsa State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled nine of its members from the party over anti-party activities in the last general elections.

The decision for the expulsion was contained in a statement by the state acting chairman of the party, Chief Serena Dokubo Spiff, at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa, the state capital.

According to the statement, the decision for the expulsion of the members followed a unanimous voice-vote by members of the state executive committee after deliberations on the report submitted by the chairman of the PDP disciplinary committee set up on April 19, 2015 to investigate the conduct of members of the party in the last electoral outing.

It, however, noted that some of the members, who are in the National Assembly or holding appointments at the national level, would be referred to the national body of the PDP for further disciplinary measures in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution.

“The state working committee met after receiving the report and deliberated on it and the state executive committee took a unanimous voice-vote based on the gravity of the offences and the respective attitudes of the affected members, some were expelled, others suspended while a few others were reprimanded and exonerated.

“It is important to note that the committee acted responsibly following the tenets of due process. The committee amply publicised the activities and invitations to the affected persons requesting them to turn up and state their own side of the story. Some turned up and others were defiant and continued to treat our party with contempt, and as a result, some members were expelled from the party.

The affected members include the Director for Research and Documentation during Jonathan’s presidential campaign, Senator Nimi Barigha-Amange, the former Speaker of the state, Mr. Nestor Binabo, former Acting Governor and state Co-ordinator of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Chief Werinipre Seibarugu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa and Mr. Chamberlain Kren Ikidi.

Others are Mr. Osomkime Blankson, Mr. Emmanuel Okponipre, Mr. Ebikapade Dibiya and Joyce Fouyowei.

Meanwhile, the expelled presidential aide to Jonathan, Dr. Waripamowei Dudafagh, described the decision of the party to expel him and others as act of impunity.

He said it is no secret that Governor Seriake Dickson has brought the PDP to its lowest ebb in the history of democracy in the state due to his bad governance‎, poor human relations, act of impunity, injustice and nepotism.

According to him: “He is‎ acting like he has conquered the people of Bayelsa and has turned the state to a private estate belonging to him and his family members alone.

“Luckily, his plans are well known to all and Bayelsa people are waiting patiently for the elections to come so that he will be voted out of office ignominiously. If, however, Dickson remains in the PDP and gets the PDP ticket by hook or crook, then Bayelsa voters will massively vote Dickson and the PDP out of power. That much I can guarantee PDP because the general cliché is that it is Bayelsa United versus Dickson and family.

“I therefore appeal to the National Working Committee of PDP ‎to urgently call Governor Dickson to order and restore peace, justice and discipline back to the body fabric of our great party so that we will remain united to give the much needed support to our father, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.”

In his remarks, Governor Seriake Dickson stressed that if indiscipline and disloyalty were not checked among party members, it would affect the party’s survival, pointing out that the situation whereby PDP members campaign openly for candidates of other political platforms while benefitting from the PDP will no longer be condoned.

Dickson, who berated members who worked against the party’s interest with impunity in the last elections said: “This is a PDP state, but our party’s strength will wane if we do not maintain discipline. We cannot tolerate a situation where a few people consider themselves above the party and do things with impunity without regard for the authority of the leadership of the party just because they are in one leadership position or the other which by the way were positions they got through the instrumentality of the PDP.

“Let me stress that party discipline does not mean that members are not free to aspire to elective offices or other positions of political leadership. What it means is that at the end of the primary elections, party members must conform to the decisions of the party. That is the only way a political organisation can call itself a political party.”