From: Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Ahead the 2019 elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Bayelsa State, has moved to woo its members in other political parties back into it.
To this end, the party has set up a Contact and Mobilisation Committee, headed by the Special Adviser on Politics to Governor Seriake Dickson, Chief Fyneman Wilson, with the mandate to mop up PDP members in other political parties and wind up opposition parties in the state.
According to investigations, many of the PDP members that decamped to other parties especially the All Progressive Congress (APC) before the governorship election in the state have held informal meetings with the PDP leadership and are willing to defect back to the PDP because of the instability in the leadership of the APC in the state and their inability to have an federal appointment.
The state chairman of the party, Mr. Moses Cleopas who inaugurated the committee in the presence of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson and handed down a five-point terms of reference explained that the move was necessitated by the growing desire and increasing moves by its former members to return to the party, ahead of the 2019.
In his remarks, Dickson charged members of the committee to mop up all the opposition parties in the state as the PDP’s umbrella was big enough to accommodate them.
Governor Dickson, who hinted that the state would soon embark on a thank you tour for the support Bayelsans have given the PDP, said the party will hold an expanded caucus meeting to brainstorm on ways to further strengthen it, assuring that, the party remains united and strong to achieve success in the coming elections.
“This is not the time of politics; we are in the business of delivering good governance. There is not team that can defeat this PDP team in any election in Bayelsa. For those who do not know they would know. I hope that would end up in the belly of Great White. Part of our politics as you all know is politics of accommodation. There is no politics of bitterness. Even those who disagreed with us are not enemies. This why the opposition in Bayelsa can oppose us because it is their rights provided they do it in an orderly manner without violence and following due process. The Chairman has selected the best people for the committee and I want to charge the committee to mop up all our members in other political parties because this is the only winning side. Don’t allow anybody to mislead you. This is a state of rumour and stories, Bayelsans should not allow anybody to deceive them. Don;t be misled by people again. This is the only team that has the capacity to win elections in this state, any election. And our umbrella is big enough. The Committee should mop up our members outside. In fact the duty of this committee is to wind up other parties in this state. They have seen the change which they could not do” Dickson said