Bayelsa PDP elders meet Dickson over defection

Notable elders in Bayelsa State and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have met with the state governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, following mass exodus of party members to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the December 5 governorship election.

A statement signed yesterday by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworsio-Markson, said the elders met under the aegis of Bayelsa Elders’ Consultative Council (BECC).

The elders were said to have lashed out at those who defected from the PDP to the APC, saying that they “were a disgrace to the Ijaw nation.”

The elders unanimously passed a vote of confidence in the governor and urged him to re-contest for a second term in office.

They berated the defectors, describing them as “fair weather politicians with savage mentality”.

The statement quoted Dickson as decrying the spate defections and referring to the defectors as ingrates and persons who do not mean well for the state.

He noted that most of the defectors were major beneficiaries of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s magnanimity over the years, but abandoned him as soon as he lost the presidential election.

He said such persons should have reciprocated the former president’s goodwill by remaining in the party instead of out rightly turning their backs on him.

“These persons are clearly not for us, they are enemies of the Ijaw nation and it is sad that people who have benefited immensely from the PDP and Dr. Jonathan could within so short a time jump ship. And, yet they come and deceive us that, they love us. These are not persons to be taken serious and we must not fall prey to their antics,” the governor said.

Dickson also used the opportunity to call on the security agencies in the state to step up their game, urging them not to rest on their oars despite the prevailing peace and stability in the state.