Bayelsa Guber: PDP An ill Wind Says, LP Candidate

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the November 11, 2023 election in Bayelsa state, Udengs Eradiri has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as an ill wind for the people of the state.

The LP candidate made this known in his reaction to a recent report that the state has been ranked the second poorest state in the country.

Bayelsa is an oil-producing state with billions of dollars received by successive governments in the state.

In spite of the huge funds that the state has received as one of the oil-bearing states in the country, not a few insist that its predominantly fishing and agrarian population are still very poor.

The state is set for another election in a few days and the incumbent Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is seeking a reelection.

The PDP has ruled the state for close to 24 years since the country returned to constitutional democracy in 1999.

Speaking in Yenagoa, the state’s capital on Thursday, Eradiri, a former President of the Ijay Youth Congress, IYC, said successive PDP administrations have misruled the state, he stressed that his party, LP, is a better alternative that can bring development to the state.

He blamed the current despondency and poverty facing the state on the incompetence of the PDP’s successive administrations which Governor Diri represents. The governor, he said, has nothing to offer.

According to him, the report “shows that the PDP leadership and the current government of Douye Diri diverted and squandered all our commonwealth.”

He stated further, “Bayelsa has a red flag in all developmental indices. It will shock you to know that 2.61 million people out of the 2.9 million people are languishing in abject poverty. This is to say that 88 per cent of our population are extremely poor despite the humongous resources and revenue coming into this state.

“While Sokoto, a desert, occupies the first position, Bayelsa, an oil-rich state is coming second. What other proof do we need to know that the PDP has remained the whirlwind that will not blow this state and our people any good?

“What other evidence do we need as a people to know that this forthcoming election affords us, the people, an opportunity to kick out Diri and his party? They mean no good for our state and should be given a red card.”