By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
As 2027 election draws close,the chairman of the peoples democratic party (PDP) in Bayelsa state, high chief Alabh George Turnah, has challenged the claim by the state chairman of the All progressives congress (APC), Warman Weri Ogoriba, that the party has sufficient structures and grassroots support to deliver president Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the state in the 2027 presidential election without the support of the emerging rainbow coalition.<\/p>\n
Ogoriba had maintained that the Bayelsa APC was firmly rooted across the state\u2019s eight local government areas and political wards and possessed the organisation, membership and grassroots networks required to campaign for Tinubu and other APC candidates in the 2027 elections.<\/p>\n
But Turnah, in a statement issued by his senior special assistant on media and communication, Kelvin Loveday-Egbo, described the APC chairman\u2019s position as a political assertion that should be tested against the state\u2019s previous voting patterns and prevailing political alignments.<\/p>\n
He argued that the APC could not simply dismiss the significance of the PDP and the rainbow coalition while simultaneously claiming that it had already secured the support required to determine the presidential outcome in Bayelsa.<\/p>\n
According to Turnah, the 2023 presidential election figures cited by the PDP showed that the party polled 65,145 votes in Bayelsa, while the Labour Party (LP) recorded 45,645 votes and the APC 40,417 votes.<\/p>\n
He said the figures demonstrated the importance of broad based political mobilisation, arguing that the combined PDP and LP votes in 2023 were substantially higher than the APC’s tally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose numbers are not propaganda they are figures from the last presidential election, therefore, when the APC says it has everything required to determine the presidential outcome in Bayelsa state, we should ask a simple question: what does the voting record actually tell us, Turnah said.<\/p>\n
The PDP chairman also referred to the performance of the labour party\u2019s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, arguing that his performance in Bayelsa showed the potential impact of voter mobilisation beyond established party structures.<\/p>\n
Turnah said the political landscape had since changed, particularly with the emergence of the Nigerian democratic congress (NDC), which he linked to former Bayelsa state governor, senator Henry Seriake Dickson.<\/p>\n
He argued that the evolving political alliances ahead of 2027 made it premature for the APC to dismiss the Rainbow Coalition or the potential contribution of opposition political structures to the presidential contest.<\/p>\n
Turnah further claimed that governor Douye Diri\u2019s movement into the APC had created discontent among some members of the party who had previously built the APC structure in Bayelsa,he also cited the reported departure of former governor Timipre Sylva from the APC as another factor in the state\u2019s changing political landscape.<\/p>\n
He said the political developments underscored the need for the APC to engage rather than dismiss other political forces ahead of the 2027 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support of the PDP and the rainbow coalition is not a peripheral matter; it is central and indispensable if president Tinubu is to win Bayelsa state, he described the Rainbow coalition, associated with FCT minister and former Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike, as a political arrangement whose relevance in his view could not be wished away.<\/p>\n
Turnah maintained that the PDP\u2019s longstanding political presence in Bayelsa also remained a factor that could influence the political calculations ahead of the 2027 presidential election,he, however, stressed that the PDP would continue to operate independently and make decisions in accordance with the direction of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PDP in Bayelsa will continue to build its structures engage its members and participate in elections in accordance with the decisions of the party,nobody should mistake our political independence for an inability to participate in broader political conversations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Turnah urged the Bayelsa APC to approach the 2027 presidential contest with what he described as political realism, rather than relying solely on claims about party structures and grassroots strength.<\/p>\n
He said the outcome of the election would ultimately depend on voters, adding that political parties should focus their engagement on issues affecting Bayelsans, including infrastructure employment ,economic opportunities, security, education, healthcare and poverty reduction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2027 election is still ahead the political debate at this time should therefore focus on issues that matter to Bayelsans, including development, infrastructure employment, economic opportunity, poverty eradication security, education and healthcare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Turnah added that the PDP would continue to place the interests of Bayelsans at the centre of its political engagement, stressing that the electorate would ultimately determine the outcome of the election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent As 2027 election draws close,the chairman of the peoples democratic party (PDP) in Bayelsa state, high chief Alabh George Turnah, has challenged the claim by the state chairman of the All progressives congress (APC), Warman Weri Ogoriba, that the party has sufficient structures and grassroots support to deliver president Bola Ahmed Tinubu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17813,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17811\/revisions\/17813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}