About 1,000 youths of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa State have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They were received into the party by Governor Seriake Dickson at the banquet hall of Government House over the weekend.
Dickson told the youth that the future of the state and the Ijaw nation lied with them as he challenged them to come to stand firm and defend their votes.
He said that anyone who loved the Ijaw nation would not have anything to do with the APC and congratulated them for dumping it for the PDP.
The governor who was elated by the decision of the youths later renamed the group as Patriotic Bayelsa Youth Forum as he praised the leader, Okilo Mathew, as truly an Ijaw man.
He urged them to get the group ready for the task ahead, adding that he will encourage them to enable them increase their membership and become relevant in the scheme of things.
Dickson assured the youths that there would be adequate security during the election as he enjoined them not to be intimidated by any threats from the APC.
“This election is about Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC). Sensitize your members, friends and colleagues about the adequate security measures at all the polling units before, during and after elections. The era of ballot stuffing and snatching is a thing of the past. Don’t be intimidated by the APC threats”, he said.
He also told the youths that his administration is poised to continue making a difference in the lives of people who are ready to work for a better Bayelsa State.
His words: “The era of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop is gone for good. That is why we will be meeting with you after our victory to say a proper thank you”
He thereafter offered direct appointment to two of the group leaders, Okilo Mathew and Momotimi Macaulay.
Two young ladies in the group, Caroline Samson and Queen Soromo, who are into bead making and salon services respectively would also receive financial support from the state- owned Izon-Ebe Microfinance Bank, to enhance their businesses, the governor directed.
Earlier in his remarks, Mathew, who doubles as the Chairman of the Community Development Committee in the area, said their decision to ditch Timipre Sylva and the APC for Governor Dickson was informed by so many factors.
The group spokesperson, Momotimi Macaulay, said after a careful analysis of the situation in the state, they decided to work with the PDP.
He stated: “Our decision to leave APC was informed by several factors. Chief among them is the prevailing peace in the state, which was revived by the present government. We from Southern Ijaw are aware of the daily killing and maiming of our youths by the previous regime. But since Dickson regime we now know peace. Please keep it up, sir.
“Secondly, when we talk of education, I recall when during my tour of some communities, before this regime came on board, at Torebeni, I met a group of children sitting in a village square. And I thought they were in a market square but upon a close observation, I discovered that they were actually school children studying under such inhuman condition.
“Your excellency, the reason we are gathered here is because of your purposeful leadership. When I visited that same community recently, I discovered that the governor has built and equipped a new school. That is just one of the numerous projects that this administration has built across the state. We are here to tell you that your votes are secured in Southern Ijaw. We will not sell our votes for any reason. We are here to let you know that we are true youths of Bayelsa State.”
He also commended the governor for his empowerment programmes enjoyed by the youths, adding that he benefited from the recent Restoration Cup, which, he said, played a major role in the unity that communities have embraced in the area.
He added that the group was aware of the monthly stipends government pays to parents, uncles and aunties and thanked the governor as he affirmed the group’s total support for PDP.
“We are all registered voters, we are going to work with other group and in Southern Ijaw your votes will count. Our question was that what has Sylva forgotten in the government house? A man who couldn’t manage the vast resources then, can’t manage what is coming to the state now”, he said
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youths for Peace Initiative, a body campaigning for non- violence in politics in Bayelsa State, has raised the alarm that the activities of minister-designate, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, were creating fears and major threat to peace and harmony ahead of the December 5 governorship election.
In a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital, on Monday, and signed by the President, Comrade Ebiakpo James, it claimed that through his actions last Saturday when he visited Ekeremor, Ayamasa, Aleibiri, all in Ekeremor Local Government area, Lokpobiri made lawless remarks which amounted to an invitation to war.
Lokpobiri is the Director-General of the Sylva/Igiri campaign organization.
According to the peace body, instead of campaigning during the visits, he was said to have threatened the people that he visited “with one colour” just as Heineken Lokpobiri but that when next he returned, he would be coming as a minister with the Federal might in “different colours” having regard to security apparatus, a statement the body said was unbecoming.
It noted further that Lokpobiri allegedly called on parents in Ekeremor to keep their children at home as he would be coming back to Ekeremor to hijack all the votes during the election by force for the APC.
The statement also said the minister-designate warned parents that if they did not keep their children as he threatened, they should be ready to “have them back in whatever they see”.
The body has, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call Lokpobiri to order just as security agencies in the state were asked to investigate its claim, raising concerns that the forthcoming governorship election may witness violence if adequate measures were not put in place.
It claimed that the concerns were well informed as Lokpobiri was said to have a history of violence in all elections he had participated in, adding that his alleged threats had agitated PDP supporters in Ekeremor and environs with security implications.
It also noted that whereas the PDP and its leadership as well as the state governor Seriake Dickson had been preaching peace, free and fair election, the APC as represented in Lokpbiri’sactions were doing otherwise.
“Any political party that is promoting violence and impunity is a negation of democratic principles. This is contrary to the APC government’s stated commitment to rule of law where impunity and political misconduct are major issues.
“Consequently, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has a responsibility to check the excesses of its operatives as it concerns the minister-designate who ought to beprimary agent of change”, it stated.
Also reacting to the development, the Ijaw Youth Council, Central Zone, condemned Lokpobiri’s for what it regarded as “his penchant for violence”, saying that election was not a war but an exercise to choose by the people in a freewill without recourse to intimidation.
In a statement, zonal chairman, Bobolaiyefa Owopele, said the comments allegedly attributed to Lokpobiri were signals of what to come during the election and he called on security agencies in the state to check any acts of lawlessness, noting that the minister-designate also made similar threats during the commissioning of APC campaign office in Yenagoa recently.
Owopele has also condemned the stabbing of some youths in Famgbe, a remote suburb in Yenagoa, at the weekend allegedly carried out by a notorious cultist, Osom Blackson, and his boys,an escapade in which three youths were reportedly stabbed.
“The violence unleashed at Famgbe over the weekend by OsomBlankson must be condemned and we call on the police authorities to immediately issue a warrant of arrest on Osom Blankson’, the chairman stated.
Bringing back a sad memory of deaths allegedly committed by Sylva’s Famutangbe, a security organization he created while as governor, the Ijaw Youths for Peace Initiative also supplied a chart containing list of those it claimed were needlessly killed in a manner that reeked of extra-judicial murder motivated by political interests.
It, therefore, called on all Bayelsans to reject any acts by political leaders that could lead to bloodshed during the forthcoming governorship elections in the state.
