Timi Alaibe leads Bayelsa APC chiefs, 5,000 others to PDP

Aggrieved members shut down party’s secretariat
Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Timi Alaibe, yesterday led some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State back to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They were former PDP members who had been aggrieved and left for the APC. Prominent among them were two-time Commissioner for Information and top ally of former Governor Timipre Sylva, Chief Nathan Egba; a political force in Ijaw South Council, Chief Rufus Abadi; and former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Gideon Ekeowei. They led about 5,000 of their supporters to the PDP in a colourful ceremony in Yenagoa yesterday.

Governor Seriake Dickson received them, in company of the South South zonal chairman of PDP, Chief Emmanuel Ogidi; Bayelsa PDP chairman, Chief Moses Cleopas; and other top political figures in the state.

The governor confessed that Alaibe and the other returnees gave him a run for his money in the hotly contested governorship election of 2015.

On his part, Alaibe said that he had been to the APC and had seen the difference between both parties.

He said: “You can see the party in Bayelsa, and the quality of leadership provided by the governor. I am here because the PDP is the place to be. PDP is an Ijaw party. It takes on issues of restructuring. It communicates on the issues that affect the Niger Delta. That is why we are all Atikulated.”

But in Ekiti State, aggrieved PDP members yesterday shut down the party’s secretariat in Ado-Ekiti over alleged mismanagement by the State Working Committee (SWC).

Led by former secretary of the party in the state, Dr. Tope Aluko, the aggrieved members chased some officials and workers in the office out and locked the office.