Udengs Eradiri Joins Reps Race, Says Its Time To Advance N’Delta Struggle

…As over 100 picks PDP Assembly forms in Bayelsa

The immediate past President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, has join the race for the House of Representative in his constituency in Bayelsa State.

Eradiri said his joining the race was because of his desire to advance the Niger Delta struggle.

According to him, it’s time people of the Niger Delta region begin to move from street agitations to taking political powers.

Eradiri stated this on Saturday shortly after submitting his Expression of Interest Form at the party secretariat in Yenagoa, the state capital.

The former IYC leader, is running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and wants to represent Kolokuma/Opokuma/Yenagoa Constituency, Bayelsa State, in the House of Representatives.

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Eradiri, who spoke after submitting his nomination form said, “So far so good, I have just started the process of taking  leadership. As a young man, I wouldn’t have been participating in the struggles for justice in the Niger Delta and then when it is time for leadership, I will be sitting by the corner.

“No, we must do everything possible to be part of those who will make laws. Let me inform you that the only solution to Niger Delta problem is when we begin to migrate from street agitation to taking political power; that is the only way we can begin to resolve our problems.

“The laws in Nigeria are not favoring the Niger Delta and until we begin to change the laws and rules, we cannot make progress. And I think that having participated as a young person in school as well as the IYC for the agitation for a better Niger Delta, the only way we can make a better society is when we find ourselves in politics and do what is necessary to change the situation.”

He warned against imposition of candidate during the party’s primaries, urging the party leadership to ensure level-playing field for all the aspirants.

Eradiri explained, “I think that nobody needs to tell the PDP what it has gone through in the past. As a result of not doing the right thing internally as a party, led us to losing an election which has kept a lot of us in the cold.

“Today,  we are going in for a new process and we expect that the party will democratize its process because that is the only way a man who loses the election at the primaries will embrace the winner and work with the person.

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Meanwhile, no fewer than 100 persons have so far picked the PDP nomination form to contest the September 13, 2018 State House of Assembly Primaries in the state.

The State party chairman, Hon. Cleopas Moses, who confirmed this, said out of the number, 13 of those who purchased the form are from a single constituency in the state.

Hon. Cleopas Moses said the development confirms that indeed the PDP is a choice party and still remains the most formidable platform to win any election come 2019.

He spoke in Yenagoa on Saturday, during a live interview programme monitored on the State owned radio station, Glory FM also known as Radio Bayelsa.