The commissioner for special duties in Bayelsa West, Michael Magbisa, has resigned his position and defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in a move that underscores shifting political loyalties in the oil-rich state.
Magbisa, a former local government chairman, formally announced his defection at the NDC state secretariat in Yenagoa, where he appeared alongside a group of supporters said to be aligned with Governor Douye Diri.
The development was confirmed in a statement issued in Abuja by the party’s deputy national publicity secretary, Abdulmumini Abdulsalam.
Explaining his decision, Magbisa delivered a scathing critique of the APC, accusing the ruling party of lacking ideological direction and operating in a manner he described as stifling and exclusionary.
“Today, I am leaving the APC because I don’t like their ideology,” he said. “This isn’t a party, but a place where destiny and people’s lives are destroyed.”
He alleged that decision-making within the party was overly centralised, leaving little room for dissent or internal democracy. “How can you be in a place where only one person decides what happens?” he asked, adding that his resignation was final.
Magbisa claimed to have moved with a coalition of civil society groups and political supporters drawn from multiple parties, which he said numbered about 5,000 people. He framed the defection as both a personal and political liberation.
“Since I joined the APC, I haven’t slept well — there was no freedom at all. But I know from now on I will be as free as a bird,” he said, expressing confidence in the prospects of his new political platform.
Receiving the defectors, the Bayelsa state chairman of the NDC, Dauprebo Ikuromo, described the party as a broad coalition open to politicians across divides, and praised Magbisa’s decision as one rooted in conviction.
“He has taken the courage to join a cause he believes in,” Ikuromo said. “He has shown what loyalty and conviction mean in politics.”
The defection comes as smaller parties seek to expand their base in Bayelsa, capitalising on disaffection within the major political blocs ahead of the next electoral cycle.
