Former President, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, has welcomed the plan by the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
 
This was as Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide expressed full support for the planned defection of Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah. Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, Eradiri, a Bayelsa APC chieftain, appealed to Diri to first call a stakeholders’ meeting and use his position as governor to resolve the internal crisis rocking the APC in the state.
 
The two-time commissioner in Bayelsa specifically asked Diri to unite the camps of former Governor Timipre Sylva and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, warning the governor against succumbing to any pressure to sideline Sylva, the pioneer leader of the APC in the state, as leaving out the former governor in the ongoing negotiations would be counter-productive.

He said Diri was expected to bring his peaceful demeanour to the APC and manage the differences in the party the same way he worked amicably with all the interests in the PDP.

MEANWHILE, the Igbo youths said the PDP’s long-standing neglect and disregard for the South-East reached its peak in 2023, when the party failed to micro-zone its presidential ticket to the region.
 
The National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, Okwu Nnabuike, who described the move as “good riddance” to the injustice meted out to the South-East by the PDP, said: “It threw the ticket open, a development that left Peter Obi with no choice than to join the Labour Party (LP), having seen that the entire thing was skewed against Ndigbo. 
 
“It makes no sense for Ndigbo to continue to put our eggs in one basket, with nothing to show for it. The PDP parades itself with arrogance and ungratefulness. The highest form of disrespect for Governor Mbah and other PDP stakeholders from the South-East was when the PDP hierarchy refused to accept a decision clearly taken by the zone.”
 
According to him, there is no need to sacrifice for a party that does not regard the people. “So, we are with the governor on this, though he can win any election on any political platform. But in the overall interest of our people, his defection to the APC deserves applause.”