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From Ismail Omipidan, in Yenagoa
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State was formally welcomed into the fold of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at a well attended reception held in his honour at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, the state capital, on Monday, November 3, 2025. Not even the early morning showers, which lasted for about four hours, could deter the enthusiastic crowd of Bayelsans who trooped to the venue in their hundreds. Many of them waited patiently from 10 a.m. until 4:20 p.m., when the historic event officially kicked off with the rendition of the country’s national anthem.
The governor was received by President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima. Also in attendance were Senate President Godswill Akpabio, ten APC governors, members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) led by the national chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda and other top party chieftains.
From Sunday evening, there were visible signs that something significant was about to happen in Bayelsa, a state the APC narrowly missed governing in 2019. Colourful APC pole banners and posters adorned major streets of Yenagoa, including the entrance of the city, welcoming visitors ahead of the event.
Daily Sun recalls that in the 2019 governorship election, the APC candidate, David Lyon, had convincingly defeated Douye Diri with 352,552 votes to 143,172. However, barely 24 hours to the inauguration, the Supreme Court upheld a Federal High Court judgment disqualifying Lyon’s deputy governor-elect, Degi Eremienyo, for presenting a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The ruling dashed the APC’s dream of taking over the Bayelsa Government House in February 2020. But all that is now history, as Lyon himself was among the party stalwarts on hand to welcome Governor Diri into the APC.
The aircraft conveying Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented President Tinubu at the event, touched down at the Bayelsa International Airport at exactly 2:55 p.m. on Monday. Following a brief ceremony at the airport, the VP and other dignitaries proceeded to the Samson Siasia Stadium, arriving at about 4:18 p.m. to the warm embrace of a cheering crowd, many of whom proudly donned the Tinubu signature cap.
Dressed in traditional Ijaw attire with a matching cap, Shettima and the governors waved to the jubilant crowd, who responded with equal enthusiasm. Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State was the first to address the gathering. He commended Governor Diri for “seeing the light” and praised President Tinubu for providing exemplary leadership that continues to attract opposition governors into the APC.
Next to speak was the senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio. Like Uzodinma, he also commended Diri for the step he took to join the mainstream, declaring that “come 2027, Tinubu and Shettima would be returned unopposed in the South-South.” He told the gathering that two out of the three senators from Bayelsa, had joined the APC as well. He, thereafter, invited one of the senators, Konbowei Benson, to confirm what he said and also invited another ex-lawmaker from the state, Senator Ben Bruce to salute the crowd, apparently to drive home his point that all the who is who, politically in the state are now in the APC. He rounded off his remarks with a song “we have decided to follow Tinubu, we have decided to follow APC, we have decided to follow Tinubu, no turning back, no turning back,” that was chorused by the enthusiastic crowd.
Once he was done, APC’s National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, took the stage to thank the people of Bayelsa for taking the right decision, saying the Ijaw nation has spoken in one voice through the governor.
“Bayelsa State has spoken. Today, Bayelsa State is APC. Bayelsa State is too critical for us to leave it in the hands of the PDP. The roads have been constructed. We saw it. We saw the fishes in the fish farms. We saw agriculture booming. We saw trading. We saw everything doing good.
“Therefore, Governor Diri is welcome to the family of the APC. I now give him this flag as the leader of the party in the state. He takes over as the leader of APC in Bayelsa State. And anything concerning Bayelsa State, the National Working Committee will contact Governor Diri.
“I will hold him responsible for APC in the state. Today, you take over as a leader of our party in Bayelsa State. Welcome, our leader in Bayelsa,” the APC Chairman said.
He thereafter handed a broom, the symbol of the party to the governor, saying “Take this broom as a symbol of our party. Sweep out PDP, and ensure that the votes are swept in. In 2027, sweep in all the votes for APC,” he charged.
Governor Diri spoke next. He began with his acknowledgement of the Ijaw nation by hailing the crowd in the traditional Ijaw way, shaking all his body. He declared that as he was joining the APC, he could see everything turning around for the good of the state and the people of the state. He rounded off the introduction with the singing of Tinubu’s anthem “On your mandate we shall stand….”
He singled out the vice president for special recognition, recalling their cordial working relationship when he served as Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior while Shettima was also in the Senate. Once done with the preliminary, the governor said “October 15 this year, I did something in consultation with the leaders and elders of Bayelsa State. I resigned my membership of the PDP for obvious reasons. This defection is not only for Bayelsa. It is for Ijaws in Ondo, Edo, Delta and Rivers.
“Somebody had to take the decision (to leave the PDP) and I took it on behalf of the state. I took it in the best interest of the state. Some of you might not understand now but later, it will be clear to all. When we came in as a government, what we did at the beginning was to ensure that most of the uncompleted projects were completed and we introduced new ones. That alone is enough reason to thank God.
“The peace and security we are enjoying is another reason to thank God. Politics is for development and not to kill your brother. The gathering here is a testimony of the unity in the state,” Diri said.
While explaining the efforts he and others made to salvage the PDP, Diri noted that he would not denigrate his former party because it provided the platform for them to attain their current political height, but added that they had to leave the “sinking ship” when it became obvious that the party had been hijacked by undertakers who were determined to destroy it, saying that “we had no choice than to join the ruling party to protect the political future of the state.”
He further said that “After seeing that the undertakers wanted to bury the PDP, I never wanted my state to be buried alongside with PDP. So, knowing what was going on, after all my consultations with all the leaders, it was incumbent on me as governor to make a decision. I never wanted my state to be buried with the PDP. What was going on became incumbent on me to take a decision and majority of the state House of Assembly, including the Speaker, have come with me to the APC.”
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He also acknowledged President Tinubu’s love for development of the state in particular and the Ijaw nation in general through developmental initiatives, including the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, the second phase of the Nembe-Brass Road and also a N4bn tax waiver granted the state when he procured the 60 megawatt gas turbine. All these, the governor said, influenced his decision to pitch tent with the APC.
According to him, the call for the construction of the Lagos–Calabar coastal highway started before the current administration. He said it had been on since the military era.
Hear him: “Long in the military regime, we requested a coastal road from Lagos to Calabar.” And to validate his claim, he called for the document, which he had co-prepared as the national organising secretary of the Ijaw National Congress at the time.
While displaying the old memorandum from the Ijaw National Congress to General Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Military Head of State, Diri said “Memorandum on the demands by the Ijaw ethnic nationality submitted to the Head of State. The major demand here was the construction of the coastal roads from Lagos to Calabar.
“I don’t care how much the coastal road will cost. Today, we have a President who has come to realise that this coastal road is important to the people of the coastal area, majority of whom are Ijaw people. Are we going to leave that type of man?” he asked and the crowd chorused “no.”
He dismissed insinuations that leaving the PDP would cost him his mandate, saying “there is only one way a governor will lose his office, by impeachment from the State House of Assembly. And in this situation, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the majority of the members are going with me.” He then invited the speaker to bear witness to his claim.
After acknowledging the crowd, Speaker Abraham Ingobere said “21 of us out of 24 are following the governor to APC. It is a comfortable number. We can do anything without the rest.”
Once the speaker was done, the governor continued with his remarks, and told the naysayers that “I have been accepted by the APC. I have come to unite us. I am not a bossy-type. I have come to the APC so that we can work together to produce 99.9 percent votes for Mr. President in 2027.”
Thereafter, he turned to the vice president and said “ you know that Bayelsa is taken. I want to thank Mr. President for all that he had done for Bayelsa. Mr, President, you have shown this state love. I appreciate love as against hatred. The love you have shown to us, we will reciprocate. Bayelsa people will reciprocate. Abi no be so?” To which the crowd chorused “Na so.”
Done with his remarks, Vice President Kashim Shettima who was handed the microphone, at exactly 5.10 pm, began with his acknowledgement of the Ijaw nation, by hailing the crowd in the traditional Ijaw way, shaking all his body like Governor Diri did, and repeating every line said in Ijaw language by Governor Diri, when he earlier spoke, to the amazement and admiration of the crowd. Done with the greetings, the vice president described the event as the celebration of Diri’s conviction.
He said “Today, you have shown us that Bayelsa State has chosen the light of national integration over the shadows of political isolation. The All Progressives Congress is the party of those who believe that progress can only be guaranteed when we stand together, when we answer the call of the people.
“Your story mirrors that of your people. You have led with calm and dignity. But beneath that calm has flowed a restless commitment to development, to unity, and to peace. You have expanded roads to remote communities and assured them that they are not forgotten.
“You have built bridges where there were barriers. You have lit homes where there was darkness. This is what it means to govern with empathy. So, we welcome you into this fold to watch and support you as you champion what you have always done.
“There are moments in the life of a nation when politics transcends partisanship, when the call to service outweighs the colours of our sentiments, and when leaders answer to something greater than their affiliations. Today is one of those rare and redemptive moments in the political history of our nation.
“Your Excellency, Governor Douye Diri, this gathering is a homecoming party for you. We are here not for a ceremony of convenience but for a celebration of your conviction. Yours is the story of a leader who has chosen the harder right over the easier wrong.
“His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has shown us time and again that politics is not war; it is the art of building bridges across rivers of difference. And no one understands this metaphor more profoundly than a son of the creeks who has built literal and political bridges across the waters of the Niger Delta.
“So, Your Excellency, this, for us, is a political reunion with a progressive mind whose ideals have always aligned with the philosophy of our great party. We are not a house of strangers; we are a family bound by the shared belief that Nigeria can, and must, work for all her citizens. And we know you, Your Excellency. We know you as a builder — a builder of infrastructure, a builder of peace, a builder of trust, a builder of the Bayelsa dream.
“Your Excellency, each of us here has come to assure you that you are home. You will not be judged by where you are coming from but by where you are going. Your arrival is not the depletion of the opposition; it is the confirmation of the pulse and constitutional clarity of Africa’s largest democracy, the freedom of choice.
“My dear people of Bayelsa State, this moment belongs to you too. It is your faith in governance that has brought your Governor to this house of progress. This is about the roof over all our heads — the roof called Nigeria. We have found out, through experience, that no one prospers under a leaking roof. The house must stand strong, united, and inclusive. So, Your Excellency, on behalf of our leader and President, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. the leadership of our great party, and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I welcome you to a family that rewards excellence, a family that respects loyalty, and a family that honours service. Welcome, my brother, to the house of progress. Welcome home to where your vision belongs. May God bless Bayelsa State. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
