Udengs Eradiri, a former Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, has called on Governor Douye Diri and his predecessor, Seriake Dickson, to integrate the Ijaw nation into the central government.
Mr Eradiri, in a statement on Wednesday in Yenagoa, told the two political leaders that there was no better time than now to move the Ijaws into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Describing the current period as “the time of political realignment”, Mr Eradiri said the Ijaws could experience political alienation if Messrs Diri and Dickson “failed to flow with the political reality.”
He specifically said the two political leaders should join the APC to create the opportunity for the Ijaws to play crucial roles in the corridors of power.
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Mr Eradiri, a former president of the Ijaw Youths Council, said that such a political decision would attract more infrastructural and manpower development.
According to him, the Ijaw nation will gain nothing by being in opposition to the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, but will only be left to wallow in the political wilderness.
He appealed to Messrs Diri and Dickson to forgo personal interests and see the bigger picture, insisting that their joining the APC would be in the overall interest of the Ijaw nation.
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Mr Eradiri, a former commissioner for youths and later environment in Bayelsa, reminded them that their past political fathers, living and dead, used to align with any government at the centre.
“The time for political realignment for the Ijaw nation is now.
“The current political equation in Nigeria presently will alienate the Ijaw race if we don’t strategise immediately and take a decision to join the ruling party.
“I am calling on Senator Seriake Dickson and Governor Douye Diri to join the APC now to guarantee the Ijaw nation a place in decision-making at the centre.
“This is no longer the time for bravado. There is nothing or no point to being in opposition to President Tinubu’s government, as it will only alienate Ijaws politically.
“Our fathers had always aligned with the centre, and Ijaws, no matter how bad, had always had some say in government. But today, we have no voice in the APC-led federal government.
“Dickson, being a former governor and now senator, and Douye Diri, a former senator and now governor, will give the Ijaws a voice at the national government if they heed this clarion call and move to the APC,” he said.
“Ijaws cannot be onlookers. Our resources sustain Nigeria; so we must be strategic to advance the development of Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation,” he said.
Political analysts in Nigeria have expressed worry that the country is moving towards a one-party state, with opposition leaders’ defection to the APC.
PDP faction putting pressure on Diri because of Tinubu
Messrs Diri and Dickson are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A PDP faction in Bayelsa, led by George Turnah, has been putting pressure on Governor Diri to support President Tinubu.
The Bayelsa governor is among the top Nigerian leaders who condemned President Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in neighbouring Rivers State.
(NAN)
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