Stakeholders from the Bayelsa East Senatorial District of Bayelsa State, have expressed their unflinching support for the re-election of the incumbent Senator representing the district, Senator Benson Agadaga, in the 2027 polls.
According to a statement from Senator Agadaga‘s media office in Abuja on Wednesday, the group said that their endorsement of Agadaga was as a result of his trajectory of good representation and massive execution of projects across the communities of the Bayelsa East.
The stakeholders were led by the State’s former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and Special Adviser to the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri on Political Affairs (iii), Dr Iti Orugbani, highlighting some of the projects to include landing jetties, telecommunication masts, and town halls, among others.
The group pointed out that Agadaga’s performance in his three years in office as a Senator has surpassed what all other Senators who represented the district before him in the past achieved.
Bayelsa East Senatorial district comprises Ogbia, Brass and Nembe Local Government Areas of the State.
Orugbani called on the Bayelsa East to respect the 2022 new zoning agreement, which guaranteed a second term for Senators from the district, stressing the need for political tolerance and peace in the forthcoming 2027 polls.
His words: “In 2022, the leaders and stakeholders across party lines from Bayelsa East held a meeting and altered the old single term for Senators from the district’s agreement and signed that beginning in 2023 any Senator emerging from the district must serve for a minimum of two terms.
“In 2023, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, then an incumbent Senator representing the Senatorial district under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, was given a second term ticket by the party. Though he lost to the PDP.
“Now that the entire state is now APC and the district have an hasSenator in the person of Benson Agadaga from Ogbia LGA, why not also give him a second tenure?
“The stakeholders in 2022 changed the old political agreement because they saw that it wasn’t beneficial to the district any longer. And so because it was Ogbia Local Government Area that started the old zoning arrangement by producing the first Senator in 1999, I want to plead that let Ogbia also begin the new two-term agreement” he said.
Also speaking, the duo of woman lethe ader of a support group, ‘Agadema Women’, Mrs Owa, Mrs Jokori and the Information officer of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Central zone, Comrade Ikio, noted that the incumbent Senator had done well for the district in the past three years that he has been in office.
They commended the lawmaker for his infrastructure projects, especially the construction of landing jetties in select communities of the three local government areas of the district, praising stakeholders for backing the lawmaker in his second term bid.
Responding, Senator Agadaga appreciated the stakeholders for the confidence reposed in him and the endorsements he has received lately from constituents and admirers across political parties.
He noted that within the past three years, since he became Senator, he has delivered dividends of democracy to his constituents across the Senatorial district.
Emphasising that the call for him to be Senator from the Brass Senatorial district came to him as a surprise, noting that he accepted the clarion call when the clamour became so loud.
He said: “I was Chief of Staff to the State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, when various groups from the zone came calling on me to contest the 2023 Senatorial polls.
“Ever since winning the elections as a senator, I’ve continued to deliver on my mandate in both representation, lawmaking, oversight, project execution and support for constituents when called upon. And I shall continue to do more if elected for a second term.”
