By-election: Bayelsa APC supporters threaten to vote against party over zoning

Supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa West Senatorial District have vowed to work against the party in the forthcoming Bayelsa West senatorial by-election if the party leadership refused to honour their age-long zoning arrangement.

They also want the leadership to jettison its decision of fielding the candidate from Ekeremor local government instead of that of Sagbama whom the zoning arrangement favoured.

Addressing newsmen, the Chairman of APC Grassroots Mobilization for Sagbama/ Ekeremor local governments, Comrade Ebide Brown, who was accompanied by the Publicity Secretary, Comrade Hitler Moses, said the power rotation arrangement in the district allowed the two local governments to share positions in the National Assembly.

He said for APC to bring candidates from Ekeremor, when they already have a House of Representatives member, Hon. Fred Agbedi, showed the party was insensitive to the plights of the people.

Already, about 900 APC faithful in Sagbama Local Government had on Tuesday defected to PDP in protest over the violation of the zoning arrangement by the party leadership.

APC had last weekend nominated the former Deputy

Governor of the state, Hon. Peremowei Ebebi from Ekeremor, local government as its candidate for the senatorial by-election, but the people of Sagbama seem uncomfortable with the arrangement.

The group argued that Ekeremor had done its turn in the Senate through Senator Heineken Lokpobiri between 2007 and 2015 and it is now left for Sagbama to complete its turn in 2023.

However, Secretary of APC in Bayelsa State Mr Alabo Martins said zoning was a PDP arrangement and not APC’s. He insisted that the party was free to pick a credible candidate from any part of the district for the byelection.