Governor Diri’s formal mind-boggling defection, culminating in a ground-breaking reception that ushered him into the fold of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, November 3, 2025, would remain a shocker to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and her teeming supporters, both within the State, Nigeria and in the diaspora.
His decision to quit the PDP unceremoniously, we were told, was in the interest of the State.
Speaking during the 14th Bayelsa State Thanksgiving Day at the Ecumenical Centre, Yenagoa, the Governor summed up courage to speak to his people, saying that, someone had to take the decision and that, he took it on behalf of Bayelsans.
Governor Diri spoke publicly for the first time on his strategic resignation from the PDP on Wednesday, October 15, 2025.
The Governor did not move to the APC alone, he uprooted the PDP party hierarchy in the State, both members of his State Executive Council and the State House of Assembly, including political appointees.
The formal welcome and reception party ushering him to APC in Yenagoa was a carnival of some sort, with APC bigwigs from within and outside the State, including some members of the party’s National Working Committee and EXCO, governors, some serving senators and federal house of representative members, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State (Oil), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, Ijaw National Congress President, Chairman, Bayelsa State Elders Council, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, amongst other distinguished personalities were in attendance.
Perhaps, of greater significance of Governor Diri’s last week’s reflections on his defection during the January 2026 edition of the monthly Praise Night in Government House, Yenagoa, was that he moved to APC “out of personal conviction”.
Buttressing his claim, the Governor reminded his audience that politics was dynamic in nature, admonishing politicians, therefore, to always learn to accept change and move with it in the interest of the people.
The dynamic nature of politics, he further elucidated, behoves the political class, critical stakeholders and the masses to align and re-align for purposeful and enduring socio-economic development of the State.
Governor Diri assured Bayelsans whose majority votes seamlessly catapulted him to serve a two-term governorship of the State, that, he consulted extensively and prayed earnestly before his epochal decision to abandon a PDP that is now a house divided against itself.
He declared: “Most of you know my political trajectory. I have moved from one party to the other. I have moved from the National Solidarity Movement (NSM) and when the party was dying, we moved to the PDP and then to the Labour Party and later to the PDP again”.
He reasoned that his movements, over the years, have enriched his political stature as he has gained experience and knowledge of inclusive and participatory politics, both in the State and at the national level.
In a reflective and meditative mood, Governor Diri assertively declared that, in politics, movement is allowed, adding that, changing camps is allowed with courage of conviction.
He was more expressively blunt when he admonished the political class not to be ‘slaves to anyone’ in the game of politics.
“Your destiny and the next person’s destiny”, he remarked, “is not the same”, adding however, that, if you are convinced and must follow that person, the choice was yours.
The Governor’s assertiveness and clear sign freeing himself from political suffocation, signposts him as someone who has attained political maturity and was ready to frontally face challenges in the murky political terrain. This conviction, it is hoped, would propel him to demonstrate in clear terms, visionary and pragmatic leadership and an unflagging commitment to greater inclusivity in participatory politics for the onerous task of state building.
It is good and instructive to note also that Bayelsans are beginning to see and experience the shift in the once iron-clad political system where under-currents of self-serving political thoughts and actions have held sway for so long in the administration of the State.
Now that Governor Diri’s defection and his reasons for doing so are well known, he should move swiftly and decisively in charting a course, reflective of his decision, to bring greater development and unity in the interest of the State. Bayelsans expect to see a governor passionately working out his visions and dreams in a more self-assured, assertive manner and one who is really on the driving seat to move the State to higher heights of socio-economic growth and development and infrastructural transformation.
Bayelsans need a new lease of life, a fresh breath of life, through an engaging, empathetic, pragmatic and responsive, and accountable leadership, far disengaged from the shackles of slavery, domination and imposition in the running of their dear State: “The Glory of All Lands”. Gladly, Governor Diri signposts that leadership by his defection to APC.
It is advisable, therefore, at this juncture, to appeal to our political class, including our Governor to be more circumspect and patriotic in addressing issues concerning our collective existence within the Nigerian hostile and inequitable administrative, political and economic landscape.
Since Governor Diri is the chosen one for the moment, let him, together with his fellow governors in the Niger Delta, who are now members of the ruling APC government show that strength of leadership to liberate our people from political and economic bondage and wipe away the British 1958 Sir Henry Willink Commission of Enquiry Minority Report tag on her people as “poor, neglected and backward”.
Braeyi Ekiye, Journalist, author and publisher writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State of Nigeria.
Phone/Whatsapp: 09031594537
Email: icelimited2018@gmail.com
Date: Thursday, 5th February, 2026
