Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, will officially join the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, TheCable understands.
Sources informed TheCable that President Bola Tinubu, APC governors, and members of the party’s national working committee (NWC) will receive Diri into the ruling party.
Sources familiar with the backroom manoeuvring said Diri, who resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on October 15, has been engaged in discreet negotiations with APC figures to finalise his defection plan.
A party source said the delay in Diri’s formal defection was to ensure the “seamless integration of the PDP bloc into the APC’s Bayelsa structure” and to “prevent internal friction” ahead of the 2027 elections.
The defection is one of the most significant political realignments in the south-south since 2023, signalling APC’s renewed push to expand its base in the oil-rich zone hitherto dominated by the PDP.
