The All Progressives Congress, (APC) hurricane sweeping across the country has swept through Bayelsa state as three prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have dumped the party and pitched tent with APC.
The member of the State House of Assembly representing Yenagoa Constituency 1, Hon. Alfred Egba yesterday announced his defection.
Egba, a close ally of former Governor Timipre Sylva, who has served in different capacities in the State House of Assembly Committees, announced that he had moved to the APC with his
supporters and associates, including a former Special Adviser on Special Duties to the former governor,, Chief Sonme Ogilogi and a former commissioner in the State Independent Electoral Commission, Chief Tom Egba.
In a statement issued in Yenagoa, the lawmaker said he had decided to leave the PDP because the party could no longer give him the needed covering, adding that the PDP's centre could no longer hold due to the raging crisis in the state leadership of the party.
“The PDP is clouded in series of controversies with parallel Structures of leadership. The party is surrounded by the emergence of a factional chairman of the party, while another person still claims to be in charge of the party leadership in the state.
“The PDP has been hijacked and there were many occasions when I was never aware of developments in my constituency and the PDP in the state. Even with my prominent position as a member of the State House of Assembly under the platform of the PDP.I have consulted with stakeholders and also sought the face of God before deciding to quit the party,” he said.
Our correspondent gathered that the decision by the prominent members of the PDP to move into the APC was informed by the new political profile of Sylva, and the rising disenchantment by members of the PDP over the high handed leadership style of the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson.
It was also gathered that the regrouping by Sylva’s loyalists is based on the battle to unseat the PDP in Bayelsa during the Governorship election in 2016.
•Photo shows Sylva
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