Why I cannot abandon PDP despite the internal crises, by Agbedi

Fred Agbedi is a four-time member of the House of Representatives and one of the most high-ranking members who started his journey far back to the House of Representatives in 1992 in the old Rivers State. He is representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He spoke to correspondents in Yenagoa on his ambition to represent Bayelsa West Senatorial District, the present state of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and his constituency projects. SAMUEL ESE brings the excerpts:

You have been so long at the National Assembly. May we know some of the leadership roles you have played as a legislator?

I presently lead the PDP caucus members in the House of Representatives. I also lead the South-South caucus of the House of Representatives. I also preside over the Bayelsa State caucus of the House of Representatives and I’m the chairman House Committee on the House of Representatives as a caucus leader of the PDP and as a very stable politician who has migrated across the desert and a leader of the PDP both working under the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and working as a caucus leader of the PDP, performing my role as a leader at the national level under the leadership of Turaki SAN, the interim national working committee chairman of the PDP.

It is being said by many observers that there is crisis in the PDP. How deep is the crisis?

You are all aware of the PDP problems, you are also aware of various judgements of both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court which went as far as declaring the Ibadan Convention null and void, believing it was a product of disobedience to a lawful court order, and to the extent that the judiciary will not encourage actions that will not obey lawful judgements and orders of the court.

Both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court, in their separate decisions, annulled the Ibaban Convention, which elected the leadership of Turaki SAN as substantive national executive committee of the PDP. You are aware that both at the Appeal and Supreme Court levels the judgements held at the time Ajibade SAN, who is the erstwhile legal adviser of the PDP, along with four others were suspended and the ambassador led committee validated. That is where the PDP does not have a leadership arose from. So, we are a party without a head, but with a tail and a body, hence the former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, took over the leadership of the party and convened the BOT and thereafter, nominated an interim National Working Committee, which was later communicated to the national executive council meeting of the PDP. Let me also use this opportunity to inform you that even though there is no National Working Committee as per the Supreme Court judgement, there are statutory members of the executive committee of the party who are referred to as members of NEC. I happen to be one of them by being a member of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives nominated 21 persons across the zones to represent the House of Representatives in the executive committee of the PDP, so also the Senate and then members of BOT, members of the national executive committee of the party as well as other statutory bodies, which include former ministers, and governors amongst others.

So, the BOT, by the signature of over two-thirds of NEC and NWC sat to ratify the decision of the BOT which is the conscience of the party. That is how the interim national working committee of 13 people led by Tamu Turaki SAN was birthed and that is presently the leadership of the PDP.

The party I hold so dear to my heart and in which I am also one of the leaders and, of course, that is the party of which I am running for the Senate for Bayelsa West Senatorial District having spent over a decade in the House of the Representatives.

I believe that I have rendered service to the Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency. I have made my mark in the House of Representatives; I have been accorded my due and privileges in the House of Representatives and I feel that it is time to migrate from the Green Chamber to the Red Chamber in the bi-cameral legislature as it is practiced in the Federal Republic of Nigeria

So here I am. I secured my form in the PDP, completed my form in the PDP, returned my form and I was screened on the 19th of May by the screening committee that was sent from Abuja to screen contestants for the forthcoming 2027 elections and I have been so cleared to contest.

I’m also aware that there is no other person that bought form to run for the Senate in the Bayelsa West Senatorial District against me and so to that extent and to this present moment, I stand as an unopposed candidate and by that as a consensus candidate as it were.

You know our Electoral Law 2026 provides for two options, consensus or direct primary which some us we opposed because the options we used to have which were self-administrative decisions of the parties would have been the three options, consensus, direct and indirect primaries.

But as you know, in the legislature, the majority will have their say and the minority will have their way. We did support the decision of the clause that provides for indirect primaries, but the majority have their way and we are left to consensus or direct primaries and as it is, I am putting my preparations together for January 16th, 2027 as it’s been prescribed by the INEC as the day the presidential election and the National Assembly election shall hold.

What keeps you in the PDP, even though it is factionalised?

My confidence one, is the judgement of the Appeal Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; confidence two, the judgement of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; confidence three is if Wike has a faction and is purportedly claiming that he’s the leader of the party to the extent that he could not sponsor anybody by himself in his personal PDP, it means that he has no party and there are no factions.

There are two factions that sold forms in Bayelsa State. How concerned are you about that?

You are aware that Solomon Agwana was elected in a congress long before the issues even arose, and so the question to determine is, at one point did George Turnar and Wike exist? And the truth of the matter is that if the officers who claimed they birthed that faction were suspended legitimately, upheld by court and, of course, whatever stands on that platform does not exist, is not known to law.

And so, maybe, due to lack of information, or maybe deliberate alliance, otherwise some people decided to spend their money where they supposed not to put their money or maybe someone is giving them free forms so that whatever that happened it’s for them and their God, and not as to whether they are on the right or wrong side. Like I said before, if I count three things that made me have Solomon Agwana as my chairman, and mind you, as the most ranking member in the House of Representatives, I should know which is the legitimate body of politics of Bayelsa. You should know that wherever you can find me, it’s not an illegitimate body and it will come to pass someday that they will know that they are in a wrong place.

There have been massive defections from PDP in Bayelsa State; what is happening?

It will be wrong to say that I was not worried, but the solace is that Nigeria’s democracy has been infected with defections; you can see people migrating. They can even migrate to ten parties a day, that is what our democracy has become.

For those who decided to leave the PDP, it was the fear of the unknown, for some who left, they felt that they are not meant to take a battle, they are not meant to take a fight. Don’t be surprised that what makes you to run from where you are today can still make run somewhere tomorrow. When you find yourself in an organisation and there is a challenge, stand up to the challenge. People that are defecting, it’s not their first time they are defecting, they have a history of moving from one party to the other.

For those of us who say we are members of PDP, I was a chairman of PDP, I cannot abandon this party. For someone who has benefited from this party all his life, whose history and whatever they have achieved today is from PDP, the best thing is to take this battle on and see where the battle will end.

today, some of us are confident that we gave a good fight, we gave a good resistance, we stood against those who said this party must not exist and today, we are sure that our party will come back. Let me tell you this, the party that has the capacity to rejuvenate very fast is PDP because it’s a party for the people, it’s a party by the people, it is a party with the people.

In just a week, we will be up and running. Some of those that defected, some are still defecting and when they meet brick walls they will return, some have even returned. Some of them that defected and held principal offices thought they will come back and take back those offices and we said no, you must follow the due process.

You were in another party before you returned, that is the way it should go and the right thing to do. Nigerians must stand up for the right thing so that we can have a country we can all be proud of anywhere you find yourself. We have lost our respect in the global society and that is what some of us are standing up to do.

Why do people take risky political decisions?

Life is made up of risks and it’s only those that take risks that can succeed. Anyone who is afraid of taking risks cannot make progress. I know it is risky but I will overcome the risk. For the other questions about some bigwigs, a former governor, a serving senator, as of today, am not sure he is contesting. I’m only aware he’s a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing that Bayelsa West Senatorial District and I have said that my desire, as high-ranking member of the National Assembly, I am very qualified to replace him and that shall soon happen. Let me tell you this, in politics, nobody makes himself, the people make him. As a former governor, we made him and he knows and we are still alive and Bayelsa West is still there. The decision to make a senator lies with the people and no contestant is above the voters. It’s only the voters that will determine who they want to vote for and as I speak, the voters of Bayelsa West Senatorial District have a decision that it is not the current senator in office but someone else that is going to represent them and represent them well.

By January 16, 2027, we will hear the decision of Bayelsa West Senatorial District, but for now I’m not aware that he’s running. It’s until the list of candidates from INEC is published before we can confirm that he is in the race. I pray that he should be on the ballot.

Kindly let us know some of your achievements since you have been representing your people?

In terms of achievements, let me be bold to tell you that I am one legislator who takes time to commission my projects across my federal constituency and I have done that say, not less than three times and as I sit here, tomorrow I will be going to Adagbabiri in Sagbama Local Government Area to inspect my own ongoing project.

I will be proceeding from there to Aleibiri in Ekeremor Local Government to inspect my own ongoing project, and am still looking forward to get to Eriama to inspect my own ongoing project.

I have a project ongoing in Ondoro, a health Centre that I am also desiring to go and inspect. I have a farmers’ market that is supposed to start in Agbere which the contractors are trying to mobilise to site. And then, in terms of completed projects, I can tell you I have executed projects in about two-thirds of the communities in my federal constituency.

I have been able to construct three concrete landing jetties. In every budget year, I construct and renovate at least, three to four schools. I do empowerment every two years – empowerment ranging from training to the provision of empowerment equipment, agricultural seedlings, fish fingerlings, sewing machines. I train people on how to do soap, perfume and others. I have also been involved in empowering people in cooperatives where women in almost all the communities in my federal constituency were put together as cooperative bodies and money between N300, N500, N700 thousand to one or two million are given to them as grants for at least, three consecutive budget sessions.

I have also put solar lights in so many of the communities: most of our communities are without the national grid and one very important thing is this solar light to help people in the darkest of the night from one point to another. I have also organised medical outreaches for our people. Recently, I was in Obirigbene to commission a 12 KVA off-grid solar power for the health centre.

There I met a baby who had an eye issue in Ekeremor. We had to take a step further to take the child to FMC for better eye treatment, it was cancerous and required chemotherapy and other treatments, and we spent over two millions to bring that child back to life, and when I got to Obirigbene, in the course of commissioning my projects, I met the child and is fantastically fine now and I decided to award that child scholarship from kindergarten to nursery, to primary, secondary and University and I told them the responsibility was on me. I am happy that at least I have been able to affect someone’s life.

I have also in my 2025 budget a health outreach to give my constituency about 2,000 free health service for the year. Tinubu government has not been able to fund it, so that has not taken off, but we hope that if it is funded over 2,000 of my constituents will benefit from that health outreach that they are going to go for medical treatment for whatever ailments they have and it’s going to be run throughout the year,

I also have a road in Toruebene that saved the community from flood situation for some years back, and a lot of other projects. I have also cleared a 31-kilometre road from the Ramos Island to the Dodo Island, from Agge to Amatu 1 to the Dodo River point, which has been commissioned and we drove that road with Hilux vehicles and the Ekeremor-Agge road will link up the road that connects the communities. You can only access those communities after six hours of tidal change and if a woman is in labour what do you think will happen or somebody is in an emergency health situation?

We know and the governor too, that the wealth of Bayelsa is in the ocean and we are not connected to the ocean. My priority is my constituency, my priority is the people of my constituency, my priority is to attract development, my responsibility is to ensure I bring some lease of life to my constituency and that I shall do. I cannot mention them all, but I shall continue to do (work) till June next year when I shall be migrating to the Red Chamber.

What level of confidence do you have in INEC?

It is not that I have confidence in them, but the fact is that no one has a choice. They are the only people who are the umpire of every election. And so, what is important is to tell your voters to ensure that they cast their votes, to ensure that they protect their votes and to see that their votes are not manipulated by anybody, be it INEC, security agencies or anybody; our votes must count. Nigerians must insist that their votes must count

How do you intend to step up to the Senate and tackle the environmental challenges in your district?

As a member of the House of Representatives, I have also initiated some of those bills but I didn’t succeed. Some of them got to some level of consideration but they have not yielded the expected results and so, going to the Senate is a work in progress. Certainly, we are going to run with some of these issues. I have gone to Agge to see the level of environmental degradation. I have gone to Asamabiri to see the level of degradation. I have gone to Isampou in Ekeremor Local Government. I have taken some steps, though it has not yielded any expected results. What I always told my people is, if I am elected into the Senate under the majority party, I will be a principal officer and if I am elected under a minority party, I will still be a principal officer. That means I can also influence some certain decisions that can bring more dividends of democracy to my constituency. That is why I said nobody is more qualified to be elected into that Senate than me.