Diri, who quit the PDP on October 15 before a triumphant APC induction on November 3, framed the rift as a family affair, insisting dialogue trumps diktats in politics
Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri signalled a path of persuasion rather than pressure on Wednesday, vowing not to coerce his deputy into ditching the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressives Congress, even as party lines harden in the oil-rich Niger Delta state.
The olive branch extended during a State Executive Council meeting at Government House, where Deputy Governor Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo — who recently won a court reprieve staving off impeachment threats — sat alongside Diri, underscoring fragile unity amid the governor’s high-profile defection last month.
Diri, who quit the PDP on October 15 before a triumphant APC induction on November 3, framed the rift as a family affair, insisting dialogue trumps diktats in politics. “Let me address an issue that has been a subject of speculation in the media. I do not intend to force people to join the APC but rather to appeal to them to see reason with me. I might have the power today, but not tomorrow,” he told reporters, evoking humility in a charged atmosphere.
He acknowledged the awkward schism — “It is actually difficult for the governor to be on one side and the deputy on another. But we will continue to talk, and we might end up at the same party tomorrow” — crediting recent parleys for Ewhrudjakpo’s decision to drop his Federal High Court suit in Abuja seeking protection from assembly reprisals.
The deputy, a PDP stalwart elected alongside Diri in 2023, had raced to court last week to block ouster moves by the now-APC-dominated legislature, which branded his loyalty a betrayal. Yet Diri, fresh from accolades for Bayelsa’s health insurance prowess and sports patronage, pivoted to pleas for calm.
“We must not heat up the polity. We are done with violence in Bayelsa State. We are brothers and we are one. Politics should be for the development of the state and not to fight one another,” he urged, swatting down viral tales of armed intruders as “fake news” while affirming robust security.
The governor’s stance arrives as his APC pivot — hailed by national chair Abdullahi Ganduje as a “game-changer” for the South-South — ripples through PDP ranks, potentially eroding the party’s grip on a bastion where it has ruled since 1999. Analysts eye Ewhrudjakpo’s holdout as a litmus for loyalty tests, but Diri’s measured tone hints at brokered peace to sidestep deeper fractures ahead of 2027 polls.
