The number of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors has depleted to eight as the governor of Balyelsa State, Mr Douye Diri on Wednesday announced his resignation from the party’s fold.
The resignation came barely 24 hours after his counterpart in Enugu State, Mr Peter Mbah defected from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was learnt that Diri announced his decision today during the weekly state executive council meeting held in the Government House in Yenagoa.
Similarly, the speaker of the state house of assembly, Mr Abraham Ngobere, along with 18 PDP lawmakers, also tendered their resignation from the party.
Spokesman for the governor, Mr Daniel Alabra, confirmed that Diri had called it quits from the PDP but said “he has not joined any other party yet.”
Diri was one of the last PDP governors standing in the south-south region after his counterpart in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Umo Eno, defected in June to join the APC.
The governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, who resumed recently after serving out a six-month suspension occasioned by the state of emergency declared in the state, is now the only remaining PDP governor in the region.
Even at that, the PDP is almost non-existent in the state as evidenced in the recent local government poll where the APC won 20 of the 23 councils and left the PDP with only three.
In addition, PDP activities in Rivers have been at the lowest ebb since the fight for the control of the party’s structures in the state began between the FCT minister and Fubara’s successor, Mr Nyesom Wike
As of now, Rivers, Adamawa, Bauchi, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, and Zamfara are states where the governors are PDP members.
Meanwhile, the APC currently controls 24 states and if Diri eventually joins it – as it is wont to happen – the ruling party would control five out of the six states in the south-south.
