A significant crisis is emerging in Bayelsa State due to the actions of the state governor, Douye Diri, who seeks to prevent a large rally organized by the New Associates.
This group comprises supporters of Nyesom Wike, a former governor of Rivers State and the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The rally aims to galvanize support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as for Wike.
The NEW Associates stated that the event would serve as a platform to formally inaugurate the organization in Bayelsa and to introduce its officials.
The acronym, NEW, represents the first letters of the minister’s name, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike and was formed by his supporters across the country in preparation for the 2027 election.
While NEW Associates’ parent body is in Rivers State, the group was making efforts to establish structures in other states of the federation.
The Bayelsa State chapter of the NEW Associates is being coordinated by George Turner, who recently emerged the Southsouth Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but immediately fell out with Diri for associating with Wike.
According to the flier released by the organisers, the mega rally is scheduled to hold on April 12 and would begin from Tombia Roundabout to Oxbow Lake where the structures of the NEW Associates would be inaugurated.
The organisers asked all lovers of truth and good leadership to come out en-masse to celebrate Wike for being a man of truth, honesty, bluntness and good leadership.
There was no part in the flier that suggested that Wike would either attend the event or send a representative.
One of the organisers and former spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Ebilade Ekerefe, said that the group had been activated in Bayelsa to galvanise support for President Tinubu in the rural communities.
Ekerefe said Wike had been a good leader who deserved to be celebrated for his honesty, bluntness, and good leadership.
He said as the country moved gradually towards the 2027 election, there was a need to mobilise Southsouth youths to support the President.
He explained that the group was created by Wike to be used as a mobilisation platform for the President’s re-election.
Ekerefe said part of the strategies to be adopted by the group was to showcase projects the President Tinubu’s administration initiated in the Southsouth geo-political zone.
He said the goal was to ensure the people of Southsouth were enlightened on the achievements of the current administration of President Tinubu and support his re-election.
He said: ‘’The New Associates is a grassroots-based political movement set in motion by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to mobilise grassroots support across the states of the South- South geo-political zone for the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office come 2027.”
But the proposed event raised political dust in Bayelsa as Governor Diri and his arm of the PDP roundly criticised it and embarked on a mission to stop it.
Diri was said to have immediately convened a security meeting and accused George Turnah of forming an alliance with Wike to destabilise the PDP and Bayelsa.
Diri also raised the alarm that the event was a security threat designed with the motive to extend the ongoing crisis in Rivers to Bayelsa.
It was also gathered that Governor Diri met with the traditional rulers in Ogbia, the Local Government Area of Turnah and asked them to call their son to order.
Diri insinuated that Wike would attend the event and vowed that he would not release any public facility in the state for the planned mega rally.
The governor described Turner as a suspended member of the PDP alleging that he was recruited to create a faction in the party in the state.
He said: “Any attempt to import the Rivers State political crisis into Bayelsa will be resisted. I urge security commanders in the state to be on the alert. Parents and traditional rulers should discourage their wards and children from being used by unscrupulous elements to cause trouble in the state.”
Diri insisted that the peaceful disposition of the Ijaws should not be misconstrued for cowardice and said his government would not allow the group to foment trouble in Bayelsa, which is the homeland of all Ijaw people.
He said: “As you are aware, we have threats from our sister state. The political crisis there is threatening us and we will not allow what is happening there to come into Bayelsa State.
“We had in our party a renegade, who has decided to form a parallel PDP in Bayelsa State, working with an ex-governor, Nyesom Wike.
“The party in our state suspended him for gross misconduct and for now he is not a member of our party in Bayelsa State. He was a part of the kangaroo PDP South South zonal congress that was rejected by the National Working Committee of our party and he is threatening the peace of this state.
“This is not Rivers State. Bayelsa is the cradle of every Ijaw man. I have always said that being peaceful is not cowardice. We are very courageous and we can stand up for the truth at all times.
“Every public facility owned by the Bayelsa State government cannot be used except with the express approval of the state government.”
But Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, described the alarm raised by Diri as shamefully baseless, saying it was a cover-up for his failures.
He counselled Diri to face the serious business of governance and stop raising baseless security alarm on a mega rally in support of the minister.
He said: “It is so unfortunate that a Governor with all the security apparatus available to him could go on national television on mere suspicion of people planning a rally, which is their right to hold.”
Olayinka insisted that Nigerians were free to express their support for anyone, anywhere and anytime, asking: “Is this how much the governor is afraid of Wike? Can the governor stop people from holding rallies in the state if they want to?”
Olayinka said if the FCT Minister was going to attend any political rally in Bayelsa State or anywhere, he would inform security agencies by himself and his involvement would be seen because “he is not afraid of anything.”
He said it was ridiculous that a governor had to call Security Council and Bayelsa Elders Council meetings to discuss issue of suspicion of people planning a rally for Wike, asking: “Is this how childish governance in Bayelsa State has become? Must he use Wike as cover up for his failure in governance and politics?”
Olayinka said it was funny that Governor Diri did not remember that Bayelsa was not Rivers State or FCT, when he was running after Wike, seeking support for his reelection.
He said: “When he was seeking reelection, this same Diri was brought to Wike, like a thief in the night. He was brought by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Senator Lokpobiri. David Lyon came with him then.
“As he was kneeling down, begging Wike to support him, he (Wike) was telling him, ‘No, don’t do that, you’re a governor, don’t do that.’
“Shamefully, the same Wike has now become someone he goes about disparaging, just to cover up his inadequacies. So obvious that some people don’t have conscience and it’s unfortunate.”
Also, George Turnah, told Diri that there was no intention to cause crisis in the state insisting that the rally must go on.
Turnah dismissed the security concerns raised by Diri describing it as baseless and defended his association with Wike, saying “there is a right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly in Nigeria”.
Turnah in a statement by his Media Assistant, Kelvin Loveday, expressed disappointment over Diri’s outburst, insisting that there was no intention to destabilise Bayelsa.
He assured the Ijaw nation of his respect, loyalty, and commitment as an Ijaw man, stressing that his political group was only interested in mobilising support for President Tinubu’s administration in the Southsouth Zone without ulterior motives.
He explained that the New Associates would be officially launched in Bayelsa on April 12, 2025, adding that arrangements had been concluded to ensure a hitch-free outing, including formal notifications to relevant security organizations in the state as required by law.
Turnah kicked against the undue politicalisation of the proposed rally, maintaining that ethnicity had no place in politics.
On his election as the PDP Zonal Secretary, he queried why it was problematic if he occupied a position meant for a son of the soil of Bayelsa or Ijaw, wondering if he was not qualified to do so.
Turnah reminded Diri that the Ogbia leaders and elders he asked to call him to order were the same leaders who, in 2019, requested that he should not support the governor’s ambition at the time, a request he respectfully ignored.
“I am not only a member of the PDP but also a serving Zonal Secretary of the Party in the Southsouth. I don’t know another office the governor is accusing me of occupying if I am truly not a member of the PDP”, he said.
He further expressed surprise at Diri’s anger over his association with Wike, adding that he had the constitutional right to freedom of association.
Turnah commended Diri on his many achievements and pledged his continued support for the prosperity administration led by the governor.
He called on the teeming youths, women, political class across party lines and all lovers of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come out en-masse, and show their appreciation to the President and FCT Minister for their special love for the Bayelsa State and Ijaw nation.
He said the love was clearly demonstrated through the facilitation and appointment of notable Bayelsans into positions of trust in the renewed hope administration.
