Fiebai Mbelegber, a former All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, has stated that his greatest regret is the ten years he spent as an APC member in Bayelsa State with nothing to show for it.
He said that after selling his car and other assets to run for an Assembly seat, he and others were ignored by the party’s leadership and were never paid.
Mbelegberi lambasted the leadership of his previous party for missing internal democratic processes within the party in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Sunday in Yenagoa, after defecting from the APC to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
He claimed that the people of Bayelsa State’s Nembe Local Government Area have vowed never to vote for any APC candidate in the upcoming election because of how the party’s leadership treated them despite the fact that the area contributed 90% of the votes that produced current Assembly members in the previous election.
His words “Our anger with the party is against the leaders of the party in the state and we have taken our decision that we will never vote for any candidate of the APC in the next elections. We don’t care if the party Chairman is from our LGA, what we are after are the results, what are the tangible things they have done for the people? What are the projects attracted from the FG to the LGA? Then look at the people we didn’t even vote for, they are the ones doing projects in our communities. That shows that the man has respect for us, and we have promised to give all elective positions to PDP. we will stand by our decision and it can not be altered”
”I just recently defected from the All Progressive Congress (APC), to the People Democratic Party (PDP). I was a former Secretary of the defunct Action Congress (AC), I attained the position of Vice President, Ex-Councillors forum, before my defection I was the Asst. Acting Organising Secretary of the APC.
”Some circumstances that led to me leaving was that the party does not have internal democracy, the leadership does not have any vision for its followers.
”In 2015, APC was not on ground but people like me who were foot soldiers galvanised and gave strength to the party, at the end of the day there was no reward. No one was carried along, we did everything and once they attained the positions we were all abandoned. No right-thinking youth is a beneficiary of empowerment in the party, we are rather impoverished.
”We decided to move to our original party because it all appears the PDP has plans for the people, with the infrastructure development and human capacity building carried out by the Diri administration. On this premise, we defected, and we were given a rousing reception, what I have witnessed already is better than the 10 years I spent in APC.
”One thing about Nembe people is that once we stand by you, our integrity must be put to test. It is a privilege for us to return back to our party, a party where we all grew up, I became an elected councillor under the PDP, whatever position I have attained in life is through the PDP, and coming back will add more value to me. I am glad to return.
”I never enjoyed any tangible thing all my years in APC, I had to sell my car so as to raise money to contest the House of Assembly, but I didn’t make it through and none of us was compensated.
”Governor Diri is trying his best, if I have to score him it will be 60% and he knows Bayelsans are expecting more. He has achieved a lot in his 2 years in office, even when I was in the APC when he does things I use to commend him despite party differences, I am not just a card-carrying member but a core member, but from all indications because of the highhandedness of the leadership, not regarding other stakeholders, a lot of people are aggrieved and have moved. In a possible short period, there will be a mass exodus of defectors from the APC to the PDP.
