The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State, High Chief Alabh George Turnah, has challenged the claim by the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Warman Weri Ogoriba, that the party has sufficient structures and grassroots support to deliver President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the state in the 2027 presidential election without the Rainbow Coalition.
Turnah, in a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Kelvin Loveday-Egbo, said the APC’s claim should be tested against the voting pattern recorded in the 2023 presidential election.
“The 2027 contest will not be won by press statements, boasts about structures or claims of grassroots strength; it will be determined by the ability to build broad-based political support across communities, wards, local government areas and the wider electorate.”
According to Turnah, the 2023 presidential election figures in Bayelsa showed that the PDP polled 65,145 votes, the Labour Party (LP) 45,645, while the APC recorded 40,417 votes.
He argued that the combined PDP and LP votes stood at 110,790, compared with the APC’s 40,417 votes.
“Those numbers are not propaganda. They are figures from the last presidential election. Therefore, when the APC says it has everything required to determine the presidential outcome in Bayelsa State, we should ask a simple question: what does the voting record actually tell us?” he said.
Turnah further argued that the emergence of Peter Obi as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), led by former Bayelsa governor Henry Seriake Dickson, had altered the political landscape ahead of 2027.
Turnah said the development could strengthen Obi’s political appeal in Bayelsa, arguing that the situation was different from 2023 when Obi contested on the LP platform.
He said the APC leadership should therefore not dismiss the PDP or the Rainbow Coalition in its calculations for the 2027 presidential election.
“The reality is that the Bayelsa APC, under Governor Douye Diri’s leadership, cannot afford to dismiss the significance of the Rainbow Coalition or the political value of the PDP without confronting the facts on ground,” Turnah said.
He also claimed that Governor Diri’s movement from the PDP to the APC had unsettled some members of the party and that the departure of former Governor Timipre Sylva from the APC had further altered the political configuration in the state.
Turnah maintained that the PDP and the Rainbow Coalition could play a significant role in any attempt to build a broad political alliance for President Tinubu in Bayelsa.
His comments followed the Bayelsa APC’s rejection of the relevance of the Rainbow Coalition.
Ogoriba had said the APC had the numbers, structures, organisation and grassroots support required to secure victory for Tinubu and other APC candidates in the 2027 elections.
He said the party had established structures across the state’s eight local government areas and political wards and would continue to consolidate its membership and grassroots mobilisation.
But Turnah said dismissing other political forces could amount to underestimating the electoral arithmetic in the state.
“If the APC in Bayelsa believes its structures are strong enough, that is a matter for the electorate to determine. But it is not reasonable to dismiss a platform whose stated objective is to mobilise additional presidential support and then simultaneously claim that every vote required for the President is already guaranteed,” he said.
“The more support a presidential candidate receives, the better the arithmetic. That is basic political mathematics.”
Turnah said the PDP would continue to build its structures and engage its members while participating in political activities in accordance with decisions of the party.
He also urged political parties to focus their 2027 campaigns on issues affecting Bayelsans, including infrastructure, employment, economic opportunities, security, education, healthcare and poverty reduction.
He added that the PDP would continue to place the interests of Bayelsans at the centre of its political engagement, stressing that the electorate would ultimately determine the outcome of the 2027 elections.
