Kinsmen of former president Goodluck Jonathan in Ogbia local government area Bayelsa state have disclosed their reasons for dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the defectors, led by Senator Clever Ikisikpo, who represented Bayelsa-East Senatorial District, he and his compatriots left the PDP because of the method of operations of the party, The Nation reports.
Ikisikpo said he joined the APC for its transparency, internal democracy, equity and fairness.
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He said: “What is happening is historic in the sense that we have now joined a new party, and that is a reigning party. We will make sure that APC becomes the ruling party in Bayelsa state. By the grace of God, by December, APC will take this state.
“Of course, we are ready to work as a team to make sure that we achieve our goal.”
The senator, who said he had been a PDP member since 1998, added that he left the party when it derailed from its founding principles.
Ikisikpo said: “We formed the PDP in Bayelsa state; we made the PDP in Bayelsa state. But those who do not know how it came about came from behind and hijacked it. I don’t belong to a party where there is a high level of impunity. So, I went to a system where there must be transparency.
“I went to a place where the voice of every person must be recognised, not a situation where only one person would dictate the pace for others. You cannot decide my destiny because it is God that gave me that destiny.’’
Incumbent governor Seriake Dickson re-election bid recently suffered a huge setback following indications that Timi Alaibe, the former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and member of the PDP, including over seventy leaders of the party are set to be received into the APC in Bayelsa state.
Reports also indicate that former first lady Dame Patience Jonathan has surprisingly thrown her weight behind the immediate past governor of Bayelsa state Timipre Sylva of the APC.
