In a shocking development that totally deflated the PDP in Ward 1, Bodo, Gokana LGA, Chief Barida Kobani, uncle and confidant of Chief Kenneth Kobani who is the Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG) yesterday dumped and jettisoned the tattered umbrella of the PDP for the broom of the APC. Chief Barida Kobani defected along with hundreds of his supporters to the APC and were received by Hon Maurice Pronen, House of Reps candidate of the APC for the Khana/Gokana Federal constituency.
The development, we gathered, is sending chills down the spines of the depreciating and disappearing PDP support base in Gokana, who are wondering that if an uncle to a high ranking government official in Rivers State could not find value in PDP to hang onto, what would become of the ordinary people with no proximity to power?
Elders of Gokana across party line have in various fora told their people never to vote against their sons Magnus Abe and Maurice Pronen for any reason, a message which gaining currency and reverberating in the grassroots. Perhaps, that message may have influenced the decision of the uncle of the Rivers SSG to cross over to the other party with his supporters.
Governor Wike, who is increasingly becoming unpopular in Ogoni land certainly won't be happy about this development, and in the coming days, his SSG may come under the hammer. APC continues to gather momentum in Rivers South-East ahead of the rerun polls.
