Bayelsa senator joins APC, says PDP can’t win councillorship elections
The Senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Benson Konbowei, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Konbowei’s letter of defection was read by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during plenary on Thursday.
The senator, in the letter, attributed his defection to what he called the ‘unpleasant circumstances and the crisis-torn situation’ in his former party.
He recalled that he had been a member of PDP since 1998, from which he was elected into the 10th Senate.
“After due consultation with my family, my associates, my political leaders in my state, and across the nation, I have resolved to join the governor of my state, the state of Bayelsa, Sen. Douye Diri, to resign my membership of the party.
“In coming to this decision, I have taken a deep look at the protracted leadership crisis and the division that has resulted from the competition for power within the PDP, especially at the national level.
“I have lost hope in the capacity of my party to play the role of a political party that is capable of winning councilorship elections in Nigeria,” he stated in the letter.
Mr Konbowei said that PDP, built on lofty promises for Nigerians, had fallen into the wrong hands, adding that it currently lacked principled leadership.
“The PDP has become characterised by eternal power struggles, irreconcilable conflicts and, at the moment, is in total disarray,” the senator said.
According to him, no politician will sit and wait for those issues in the PDP to be resolved, even as the 2027 elections beckon.
“Accordingly, it has left me with no option but to resign from that party. So, I hereby resign my membership of the PDP and hereby declare my total loyalty, support, and movement to the APC,” he said.
Mr Konbowei’s defection to the APC comes a day after the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, announced his resignation from the PDP, alongside members of the State House of Assembly and other top politicians in the State.
Mr Diri did not, however, announce his next political party, despite initial rumours that he was joining the APC.
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With Mr Konbowei’s defection, the ruling party now controls 74 seats in the 109-member Senate.
His fellow lawmaker from Bayelsa and senator for the Western senatorial district, Seriake Dickson, had said on Wednesday that he would not defect from the PDP to the APC.
Mr Dickson, who is the immediate past governor of the state, said Mr Diri, who is in his second term, informed him of his plan to resign from the PDP.
(NAN)