PDP Governor In Showdown With Predecessor Over Defection To APC

A looming split pits Governor Douye Diri against his predecessor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, as the governor’s defection plans to the APC harden—threatening a realignment of Bayelsa’s power blocs ahead of 2027.

Bayelsa politics is on edge amid signals that Governor Douye Diri will leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), a move insiders say could trigger an open confrontation with his predecessor and Bayelsa West senator, Henry Seriake Dickson. Multiple sources said the governor’s carefully managed defection plan—kept under wraps for months—has reached the endgame, with October 14 pencilled in for the switch.

Party and parliamentary arithmetic point to a clash. Dickson, who has kept a deliberate distance from the Diri administration, is openly opposed to the defection and, according to sources, was not consulted because the governor “knew he would shoot down the idea.” Key National Assembly figures aligned with Dickson—Senators Dickson and Benson Agadaga, alongside three of Bayelsa’s five House of Representatives members (Fred Agbedi, Maria Ebikake and Mietama Obordor)—are refusing to cross with the governor. Their resistance sets up Dickson as the rallying point for PDP loyalists if Bayelsa flips to the APC under Diri.

Those close to the governor say he is exhausted by what they describe as the PDP’s intractable internal crises, which they argue jeopardise 2027 ambitions for his camp. Behind the scenes, Diri has courted Bayelsa elders and, out of courtesy, briefed former President Goodluck Jonathan. Inside the state legislature, the governor appears to command majority support for the move, with one senior lawmaker declaring: “There is no going back on the governor crossing to the APC… The defection may be next week.”

Even within the APC, the governor’s landing zone is not seamless. Diri’s team reportedly weighed factional pushback from the bloc loyal to former petroleum minister, Chief Timipre Sylva, and therefore pursued a discreet path to avoid internal sabotage. An APC chieftain from Diri’s local government says the red carpet is ready, yet the state APC chairman, Dr. Dennis Otiotio, insists he is not officially aware—signalling the delicate negotiations still underway.

The PDP in Bayelsa is already polarised. Senior party hands blame “young Turks” around the governor for pressuring a quick break, accusing them of plotting to “reconfigure” power using the leverage of the ruling party at the centre. “Some of the people who were not anywhere when we fought to bring the governor in 2019 and 2023 are the people he is listening to… They believe that by joining the APC, they will use federal might to win,” a top PDP figure said.

While many state lawmakers are prepared to move with Diri, National Assembly members—bar Senator Konbowei Benson—are largely holding the PDP line. That split deepens the Diri–Dickson fault line: the governor consolidating at home, Dickson entrenching at the federal end. If Diri crosses, Dickson’s camp is expected to formalise a structured opposition within Bayelsa, with the senator as its “leading light.”

Officially, the governor’s media team and the APC leadership maintain plausible deniability. Chief Press Secretary Daniel Alabrah says he is unaware of any defection plan; APC chairman Otiotio says the same. But within both camps, operatives speak of a fait accompli.

With additional reports from Sun

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