Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Ndutimi Alaibe has allayed fears that he would decamp from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if he fails to clinch the governorship ticket come September 2nd, saying he is confident that he will emerge as the party flag bearer in the state.
According to Chief Alaibe, though past defection to the Labour Party and the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2011 and 2016 were exigency of the time, the fears expressed about his loyalty to the party and possible defection if he loses the primary is unnecessary as he is optimistic that he would win the party ticket in September and vowed not to dump PDP even if he doesn’t.
Chief Timi Alaibe, who made this known during a ‘meet the media’ visit to the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Yenagoa with his Governorship campaign team, said: “I have spoken severally on it (defection) and I hope you read it up. There is not going to be any crisscrossing again; it was the exigencies caused that at that time. You can look for the grammar to support that.”
“You saw me take the forms, you will soon see me submit them and we are running on PDP ticket. We will unveil very shortly our programmes and the details of our strategic plan for Bayelsa State,” he said.
Alaibe, who also outlined his action plans for the development of the state if he is elected as the governor come November 16, said with his private and public sector experiences, he will be able to build the state economy which will not only rely on oil alone.
He said his main interest will focus on building a prosperous future for Bayelsa children, and create a social investment for the growth of the state.
He said: “I want to use government as enabler for maintenance of peace, severity and conducive environment for private sector economic capital to create wealth for the people of Bayelsa state.
“We want to ensure that we invest in critical infrastructures and environmental growth, we will use that to create jobs, and infrastructures.
“We have a natural deep seaport here, we believe that assessing that as a goal will open up the state’s wealth in our ocean, because a lot of our resources come from the sea, we will take that development as a priority.
“I want to face the economy of our state, so that our children will have jobs as they finish schools, we must invest on the economy to create jobs, we will ensure economic prosperity, we should be looking at the 25 years strategic plan for the development of Bayelsa state,” he said.
Earlier in his comment, the chairman of the NUJ, Bayelsa state chapter, Comrade Samuel Numunengi noted that PDP Governorship aspirant, Chief Timi Alaibe is the first among the crowd of governorship aspirants that had declared for the governorship race and called on others to take a cue from the visit in order to present a detailed development plan for the state if elected.
