Leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) weekend engaged in angry words over the alleged attempts by the opposition party with the emergence of the former deputy governor, Rt. Hon. Peremobowei Ebebi to breach an existing gentleman’s agreement between the people of Sagbama and Ekeremor Local Government areas on issue of power rotation of National Assembly positions.
Political stakeholders had agreed that by the provision of the gentleman’s agreement in existence between the Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas in Bayelsa state west senatorial district, the people of Sagbama are the only ones qualified to produce candidates to contest for the October 31 National Assembly bye-election. But the emergence of Ebebi of APC is a threat to such agreement.
The Special Adviser to Gov. Douye Diri on Political Matters, Chief Collins Corcordia, while speaking in Sagbama council area on the emergence of Governor Seriake Dickson as candidate of the PDP, said with the deliberate breach of such agreement by the APC,”there is no contest in the bye-election. The APC candidate will be roundly rejected.’
‘Why he wants to destroy the agreement between Sagbama/Ekeremor we don’t know. But the people of the two local government councils will vote against him. You can quote me on this and put me to test after the election. Ebebi signed the agreement and he wants to betray such agreement.”
But a chieftain of the APC from Sagbama, Chief Perekeme Kpodoh, faulted the claims of the PDP on issue of rotation insisting that though some political stakeholders met and resolved to uphold the existing gentleman agreement between Sagbama and Ekeremor people,”the issue which was raised recently was pre-planned by his former aides and PDP members to satisfy the whims and caprices of their pay masters. It cannot be binding on APC leaders.”
“In the spirit of true rotation, when the former governor finished spending eight years as governor, the new deputy governor slot should have gone to Ekeremor. Why didn’t they replace a deputy to Ekeremor and get to complete the Senate seat for Sagbama. Those who adopted the gentleman agreement at the meeting in Sagbama were PDP members and they hoodwinked those at the meeting with rhetorics”
“And they claimed it should be binding on all those that attended. They claimed Chief Peremobowei Ebebi was once a deputy governor. Ebebi’s emergence was not by the people but by the Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. But it did not last. When Governor Dickson was governor, how many commissioner slots did he give to the Ekeremor people? He gave Sagbama over six slots and gave Ekeremor people less than three.
