Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has said the purported members of the Peoples Democratic Party who defected to the All Progressives Congress are outsiders to the party.

The governor said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, yesterday that the defectors were elements within the party who were engrossed in internal sabotage activities against the party.

He said that most of the defectors who formed an opposition group within the PDP actually supported the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) in the last election, while the rest refused to work for the party.

He reiterated his position that the defections which he described as infinitesimal would not have any detrimental effect on the electoral fortunes of the PDP in the next governorship election in the state as shown by the general acceptability of the party.

Governor Dickson said even the very few members of the Restoration Team who left the party are still in touch with the government.

He spoke shortly after receiving his Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Markson Fefegha, who resigned on October 18, and returned to the party yesterday.

He said: “I can say confidently that 90 per cent of the defectors are outsiders to the PDP. They have not been at the core of the PDP affairs in the state and most of them were the ones doing anti party, the household of the opposition group within the party.

“A number of them supported the ADC in the last election, while others have been on the fence.

“The good people of Bayelsa should note that these purported defections cannot affect the core of what we do in the PDP.

“Only very few people who were part of the PDP have defected and they are still in touch with the leadership of the party because are open to discussion, we are still reaching out to them.”