Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri on Wednesday, in Yenagoa, expressed the hope that his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewrejakpo, will join him in the APC, considering the discussions currently going on between them.
Diri said it was better to engage his deputy than try to force him to join the APC, knowing that it was the deputy’s right to associate freely with whoever he deemed fit.
Speaking during the weekly state executive council meeting in Government House, Yenagoa, which Ewhrudjakpo also attended, the governor admitted that it would be difficult for both of them to be in different political parties, but expressed the optimism that ongoing engagements with his deputy would yield positive results.
He disclosed that the case filed by Ewhrudjakpo at a Federal High Court in Abuja to halt a purported impeachment plan had been discontinued after they discussed and urged people of the state to love one another and see politics as a means to bring development and not to pull others down.
His words: “I express our gratitude to the people of our state for the successful and well attended thanksgiving day service. The spirit of oneness and love is what we should keep exhibiting.
“I like to also thank the people for the mammoth crowd at the sports complex during our defection. I appreciate the leader of our party, President Bola Tinubu, and Vice President Kashim Shettima. I pledge our loyalty to continue to work for a better Nigeria, for the upliftment of the standard of living of our people.
“Let me address an issue that had 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.
“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 in the same party tomorrow.
“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.”
On the rumour of the arrival in the state of armed men from a part of the country, Governor Diri dispelled it as fake news and assured that security agencies have been put on notice to check any threat in any part of the state.
He reaffirmed Bayelsa as one of the most secured states in the country and urged the people to go about their businesses and report security issues to the relevant agencies rather than rushing to post falsehood on social media.
At the meeting, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, presented to the governor the recognition of Bayelsa as the “Best State in Health Insurance Service Delivery” by the Nigeria Governors Forum while his counterpart in the Ministry of Sports, Dr. Daniel Igali, also presented a “Distinguished Governor Award for Outstanding Support to SWAN and Contribution to Sports Development In Nigeria” from the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria.
