Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, has predicted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would emerge stronger after and more united in Bayelsa State after the ongoing party congresses.
While crisis had hit many state chapters of the party during the ward congresses, the exercise was peaceful in Bayelsa State as party members conducted themselves in orderly manner.
Lokpobiri, a native of Ekeremor in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state speaking, in Yenagoa, noted that the peace that characterised the last ward congress in Bayelsa was a pointer to the party members’ preparedness to work together.
He commended the party members for their conduct during the last ward congress and appealed to them to repeat similar feats in the forthcoming local and state congresses.
According to him, the APC remained the only alternative platform to stop the “hunger affecting everybody” and “bad governance” in the state.
Lokpobiri said the priority of every member of the APC was to ensure that after the congresses, the party emerged victorious in the first rounds of elections in 2019.
While expressing regrets that violence marred the congresses in some other states he appealed to Bayelsa not to toe the path of violence.
Hi words, “Everybody thought that Bayelsa was going to be a theatre of crisis but we are thankful to God that there is no crisis.
“Going forward as a party we will do every possible to see how we can remain united and receive as many people as we come from a dying PDP. Everybody is feeling the effects of bad governance in this state.
“So, it is in the strategic interests of everybody regardless of where you come from that PDP is booted out. But the first step will we take is to take advantage of the congress to unite out party and to create a new stronger and more united party.
“We want to create a new stronger and more united party so that as we go into the first round of election, which is the National Assembly, Presidential and state assembly elections, we will demonstrate to Bayelsans that this is the only way we can salvage our state.
“We believe that this will be what we want to replicate in local government congress and the state congress,” Lokpobiri added.