The defectors, including Senator John Brambiafa and Chief Alex Ekiotenne were re¬ceived in a ceremony attended by a crowd of PDP faithful at the Peace Park, Yenagoa, by members of the party’s National Executive Commit¬tee (NEC), the State Working Committee (SWC) and the state Governor, Chief Seriake Dickson.
Brambiafa and Ekiotenne were core loyalists of Mr. Timi Alaibe, who recently issued a statement calling on Bayelsans to rally round APC governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva to win the com¬ing governorship election.
The defectors, who claimed they were the authentic del¬egates of the APC in the just conducted governorship pri¬mary in the state, noted that they took the action in protest of the outcome of the primary.
In his address, the Chair¬man of the Forum of Authen¬tic APC Delegates (FAAD), Mr. Amos Soko, said the August 22 primary election of APC which was supposed to be peaceful, free, fair and credible was riddled with cri¬sis.
According to him, Alaibe who was a leading aspirant in the race was asked to step down for an “anointed can¬didate” by the powers from above, in a rescheduled inter¬nal election following cancel¬lation of the first exercise.
He said: “It was a sad and sorrowful day for the over 1000 authentic delegates who had signed up to pick Alaibe as the candidate of the APC. Since after that day, it has been mourning all the way as if the creator of Bayelsa died that day”.
Soko saluted the wisdom of Alaibe which he said pre¬vented bloodshed during the second exercise.
“Following this unac¬ceptable travesty of internal democracy and in view of the fact that the so-called winners see every other per¬son as conquered people, we have decided to support Dickson in the general elec¬tion,” he said.
In his remarks, Ekiotenne said following the defections, the APC was dead in the state and would be buried on De¬cember 5.
He vowed to deliver 90 per cent of votes in Ekeremor, his local government area to PDP.
Speaking at the event, the PDP’s National Vice-Chair¬man, South-South, Mr. Cairo Ojougboh welcomed the detectors and said the party would restore them to their former positions.
He said the entire structures of the PDP in the country were in support of Dickson and would help him to defeat the APC at the election.
He stated further that the PDP remained the only demo¬cratic party in the country, adding that the party would not surrender the South-south to the APC.
Ojougboh tasked the cur¬rent leadership of the Indepen¬dent National Electoral Com¬mission (INEC) to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the country. Dickson who welcomed the defectors back to the PDP described Ekio¬tenne and Brambaifa as great and patriotic leaders.
He said their return to PDP had consoled him following the emptiness he felt at the death of a former Governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Ala¬mieyeseigha, whom he said, “they harassed and killed.”
He said: “We have launched operation wind up APC in Bayelsa. This is just the beginning of the winding up exercise. We will continue to receive our brothers and sis¬ters who were misled.”
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