By Akanimo Sampson
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum is awash with jubilations as the party has finally retrieved Bayelsa State from the All Progressives Congress (APC) following Thursday’s ruling by the Supreme Court.
The Forum has, accordingly, congratulated the new governor, Douye Diri and his running mate, Lawrence Ewhruojakpo, over the apex court judgment on the Bayelsa Governorship election.
The Forum in a statement by its Director-General, C.I.D. Maduabum, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, congratulated the new Bayelsa leaders, claiming that the victory reaffirmed the fact that “God is in charge of the affairs of men.”
While the statement added, “it shows that the truth and the peoples will ultimately triumph. This is a great victory for democracy and rule of law”, it also noted that the governors welcomed Diri to their forum, they prayed to God to give him the wisdom and strength to steer the ship of Bayelsa aright.
“We implore you to carry everyone along and run an inclusive government worthy of the ideals of the PDP Governors’ family”, the governors said.
Meanwhile, the PDP governorship candidate in the dramatic November 16 governorship poll, Douye Diri has waved an olive branch to all aggrieved party members and supporters in the state. In a seeming passionate plea for unity and peace in the state wing of the party, Diri urged all to sheathe their sword in order to relive the good old days in the oil state.
Diri, while reacting to the apex court ruling in Abuja, urged all PDP members, who left for the APC in the state, to return home and help move Bayelsa State forward. “I am waving the olive branch to all my people in the PDP who, out of one thing or the other, got angry and left us to APC. I am waving the olive branch, please come back. We have to build Bayelsa together. Our people in the APC, they are Bayelsans, we cannot continue to be in disunity. Being in APC does not remove you as my brother of Bayelsa,” he said.
Adding, he said, “whether you are Nembe, Sagbama or Southern Ijaw, that is the region that God has brought us to stay and build our state together.”
