Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has set a target of at least one million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election as he inaugurated the All Progressives Congress (APC) State Campaign Council.
Gatekeepers News reports that Diri gave the charge during the inauguration of the 20-member campaign council at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa, urging members to prioritise reconciliation, unity and grassroots mobilisation ahead of the elections.
The governor said the party must close ranks and work collectively to secure victory for Tinubu and other APC candidates contesting for federal and state legislative positions.
“I give you a target that in Bayelsa, we must not bring less than one million votes for Mr President. You are going to campaign, and you have a lot to talk about the President. He has done so much for our people,” he said.
Diri urged party members who were not appointed to the council to support its activities by taking the party’s message to communities, wards and polling units across the state.
He identified the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the second phase of the Nembe-Brass Road, interventions in the power sector, federal appointments for Bayelsa indigenes and the establishment of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy as some of the Federal Government’s achievements the campaign should highlight.
The governor also praised Tinubu for initiating the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing it as a significant project for coastal communities.
“No president, alive or dead, has remembered the coastal people and coastal states to say let us do this signature project from Lagos to Calabar. The first president to think about it is Bola Tinubu, and those were the demands of the Ijaw people,” Diri said.
He further expressed hope that Tinubu’s re-election would provide an opportunity to advance demands for fiscal federalism, greater resource control and state policing.
The governor cautioned campaigners against personal attacks and abusive exchanges with political opponents, insisting that the APC should focus on policies, achievements and issues affecting the people.
At the inauguration, Chief Robert Ayalla was appointed Director-General of the campaign council, while Chief Timi Alaibe was named Chairman of the Campaign Advisory Council.
Deputy Governor Peter Akpe was appointed Deputy Coordinator, while Diri will coordinate the presidential campaign in the state. APC State Chairman, Warman Ogoriba, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Samuel Ogbuku, were named Coordinators One, Two and Three respectively.
The inauguration comes amid criticism from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which questioned Diri’s commitment to Tinubu’s re-election campaign over the absence of the President’s photograph on some APC campaign billboards in Yenagoa.
The PDP Publicity Secretary, Ikaebimo Mark, alleged that the billboards promoted other APC candidates without featuring Tinubu.
