The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State reached a dramatic peak on Thursday when Senator Konbowei Benson Friday (Bayelsa Central) defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), sparking shock and tension in the Senate chamber.
The development came barely 24 hours after Governor Douye Diri stunned his supporters by quitting the PDP — a move that now appears to have triggered a wave of defections in the oil-rich state.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, wearing a broad smile, read Senator Konbowei’s defection letter aloud to the chamber.
As the announcement sank in, APC senators rose in excitement, welcoming their newest colleague with handshakes and applause.
The usually solemn chamber briefly turned into a scene of celebration rather than legislation.
However, the mood was starkly different on the opposition benches. Senator Henry Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West), a former governor and one of the PDP’s most prominent figures, sat in visible disbelief.
Without uttering a word, he quietly gathered his files, stood up, and walked out of the chamber.
Akpabio, in a mix of jest and reprimand, called after him: “Leader of the Bayelsa Caucus, you shouldn’t be leaving when such an important letter is being read!”
Dickson did not turn back. “I have more important things to attend to,” he replied curtly as television cameras followed his exit.
Outside the chamber, Dickson’s earlier warning appeared prophetic. Speaking just a day before the defection, he had cautioned that Nigeria’s democracy was sliding toward imbalance.
“A democracy without opposition ceases to be democracy,” Dickson had said. “It becomes dictatorship and totalitarianism.”
Political analysts say Senator Konbowei’s defection strengthens the APC’s dominance in the Senate, pushing its seats to 74 — a supermajority that could significantly diminish dissenting voices.
For the PDP, the loss represents another setback in a region once considered its political stronghold. For Bayelsa, it signals an ongoing realignment of power and influence.
For Senator Dickson, Thursday’s walkout may stand as both a protest and a symbolic defense of opposition politics in a democracy increasingly tilting toward one-party control.
