Alaibe to PDP Chairman: You lied! I’m not responsible for defection of Bayelsans from PDP to another party

On Thursday October 24, our attention was drawn to a wickedly conceived unwarranted attack and incitement of the people of Bayelsa State against the person of Chief Ndutimi Alaibe by the Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Moses Cleopas. The party chairman unreservedly lied to the public when he stated that Chief Alaibe was directly responsible for the mass exit of previously prominent members of the PDP to the main opposition party in the state, the All Progressive Congress.
 
This was contained in a press statement issued and circulated to the media through Government House electronic mail (e-mail) address. The same statement was first posted on the personal Facebook platform of Mr Fidelis Soweri, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson. The statement quoted Chief Cleopas as lying that all those leaving the party daily had the original objective of supporting Chief Alaibe on the platform of the ADC. He went ahead to drop names of prominent and well respected Bayelsa leaders who may have left the PDP for other political parties based on personal convictions.
 
It would have been appropriate, under certain circumstances, to ignore Chief Cleopas ranting on behalf of his evil-minded sponsors whose mission is to search for who to blame for their failures in party leadership. But doing so would mean denying the Bayelsa people—and indeed other Nigerians—the opportunity to know the truth so as not to be misled by this cooked-up falsehood.
 
For avoidance of doubt, Chief Alaibe is not in any way responsible for the defection of these respectable Bayelsans from the PDP to any other party. How would he do such a thing when he has personally, in repeated signed statements, made it clear that despite pressures from all quarters, he would remain in the PDP and that he would not be persuaded to abandon the party though his desire for the governorship of the state was tragically aborted by Chief Cleopas and his ilk. 
 
It is so unfortunate that at a time Chief Cleopas and his sponsors should be apologising to the good and patient people of Bayelsa State for presiding over the conduct of the most procedurally flawed primary election in the history of the state—an election that deprived the people of the opportunity to choose their next governor—they are busy grandstanding and looking for who to blame. This is the second time in two months that Chief Cleopas has found it convenient to allow himself to be used by his pay-masters to tell blatant lies against Chief Alaibe in attempt to rubbish his reputation without considering the legal consequences.
 
It is sad to note that at a time the National Headquarters of the PDP has set up a committee to reconcile and bring aggrieved members of the party back to the political family after the defective primary election, the party leadership in Bayelsa State is embarking on further self-destruction—just three weeks to a crucial governorship election—by bandying falsehood against someone who could reinvent and mobilise the people against the already anticipated failure of the party at the poll on November 16.
 
It should worry every member of the PDP that Chief Cleopas, instead of burying his head in shame that the party he was elected to lead is disintegrating on his watch, is noisily going about advertising his glaring incompetence by attacking someone whose public service records and leadership qualities are far beyond his imagination.
 
Let it be known that those who have left the PDP for other political parties in Bayelsa State are merely fed-up with the ineptitude of the current leadership of the party in the state exemplified by the partisanship exhibited in the last governorship primary election. Their exit has nothing whatsoever to do with the insinuations made by Chief Cleopas and his sort. Chief Alaibe still remains a member of the PDP.
 
SIGNED
 
ENIZE OGIO
SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO NDUTIMI ALAIBE