As Mass Defection Hits PDP in South-east…

Former Senate President Ken Nnamani and former governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, altered the political equation in the South-east last Sunday, when they led thousands of their supporters to the ruling All Progressives Congress. That action has triggered a political tsunami against the Peoples Democratic Party, writes Christopher Isiguzo, in Enugu

The last one week has been very busy for leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the South-east, as the party takes advantage of its on-going membership re-registration exercise to admit countless numbers of persons. The party that was clearly detested in the zone in the build up to the 2015 general elections has suddenly become the beautiful bride that notable political leaders, mostly from the Peoples Democratic Party, are now falling over themselves to obtain its membership card.

From Abia to Anambra, Ebonyi to Enugu, and Imo, the story is the same. The wind of defection has become more like a tornado in the PDP. It is even been insinuated that two serving governors in the zone are making efforts to join the band wagon.
The major loser in the defection gale is PDP.

Defectors
Leading the pack of defectors is former President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, who formally joined the train last Sunday after declaring that the road leading to PDP had long closed down.
Other notable leaders who have joined the APC are former governor of the old Anambra State, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo; the wife of the former governor of Enugu State and former national chairman of the PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, Mrs. Dorothy Nwodo; former two-term speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Eugene Odo; and former PDP senator, Chief Fide Okoro.

In Abia State, the former governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, has virtually collapsed other existing parties in the state into the APC. Also, in Anambra, where a governorship election is due to be held towards the end of the year, notable political actors from across the parties have found their ways into the APC.

Justification
The rush to the ruling party at the national level has elicited reactions from political observers most of who are of the view that it smacks of inconsistency for politicians to abandon their parties in times of hardship. But the defectors have continued to justify their actions.
Speaking shortly after he was registered by the chairman of the APC registration committee for Enugu State, John Ibeabuchi, at his Amechi ward 2 in Enugu South council, the former senate president said he would still make a formal declaration at a public event, wherein he would give detailed reasons for choosing APC.

He said, “I recognise the weight of this moment. It’s a moment of joy for me to join those who have kept the APC flag flying. It will be foolhardy on my side to continue to identify with a group of persons who are returning from the market. APC is going to the market and shall bring back goodies. As long as God gives me strength, I will like to identify with potential winners.

“APC is not yet a perfect party, no party is, but it has the potential of becoming near perfect, unlike others. I was not forced to join the party, I did this out of my own volition. I went on sabbatical since February 6, 2016 when I left the PDP, but today, after taking a close look at the prevailing political situation, I’ve decided to join the APC.

“There’s change in the country and we need to identify with the change. The political map of the country has changed, therefore, we the Igbo cannot continue to distance ourselves and continue to cry. We need to come inside and become part of the change. The way the national stream is flowing, we need to be part and parcel of it.
“When somebody has a terminal disease, it will be folly to advise the person’s family to continue to waste money trying to cure the disease, rather it will be better to ask the family to prepare for the person’s burial. We cannot continue to identify with a party that lacks internal democracy, a party that has democratic in this name yet is not democratic, a party without a future. People should freely join the APC because the other road is closed, this is where the road is now.”

On his part, Nwobodo, urged Nigerians to exercise patience with the APC federal administration, saying the challenges facing the country would not be addressed in one fell swoop. According to him, “I was part of the PDP founders but got nothing for 16 years. Looters came and drove everybody away from the party. I made people in the party and they turned round to fight me from the very day they mounted the saddle. My party closed down my bank, Savanna Bank, that could have given about 3, 000 graduates jobs. I have no apology joining the APC.”

Justifying his defection to APC, Odo, who joined with about 2,000 of his supporters, said though he was not unmindful of the fact that Enugu was predominantly a PDP state, he was encouraged by the fact that the leadership of APC was making efforts to inspire the people of the South-east to join the party.

The former Enugu Assembly speaker stated, “The beauty of democracy is the ventilation of ideas and we have found succour in the APC. Part of the attraction is the fact that APC is striving hard to encourage our people in the South-east to join the party. I can assure you that before the end of June this year, it will be difficult to recognise PDP anywhere in Enugu State. The PDP has created a big burden to local politicians and what we now have in Enugu State PDP are temporal landlords.”

Also justifying the defections, a former chieftain of the PDP and Secretary to Enugu State government in the Chimaroke Nnamani administration, Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, said the only way Ndigbo could realise their presidential aspiration would be for them to join the ruling party.

Decrying the experience of the Igbo South-east in the Second Republic, when they were predominantly in the then opposition Nigerian Peoples Party, as against the ruling National Party of Nigeria, he said, “The defections are a good omen for our people. We don’t want to play second fiddle again.”

Commending the APC federal government, he stated, “For the past two years, we have witnessed tremendous work going on across our major infrastructure, especially roads. Enugu-Onitsha road, Enugu-Port Harcourt road, these are projects that are now on-going. The second Niger bridge, there is hope that this government will meet the aspirations of our people. We want to be part of this progress and development in the South-east.”

Director-general of Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, who dismissed fears that the defections could culminate in a one-party state, said, “It shows one that my people appreciate the infrastructural development element in the three cardinal programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime. We are aware that in the fullness of time Nigeria is going to overcome the current hardship, despair and despondency.

“The most outstanding attraction of our people is the fact that some propagandists sold a dummy to our people that Buhari will use presidential executive powers to Islamise the country and, luckily, as we canvassed then, it didn’t happen. Millions who bought into this vile propaganda before and during the 2015 general elections are full of regrets as victims of post-truth.

“Secondly, we are looking ahead on how best to harvest the age long aspiration for president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Indeed, some of us reason that going by the zoning convention, it is faster and better assured to produce a president of Igbo extraction if President Buhari is to do two terms of eight years. I am an apostle of Mr President. The late Dr Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory told us something and his prediction is coming to fruition. He predicted that Buhari will lay a solid foundation for transparency and accountability; he will lay a foundation for infrastructural development and the road to industrialisation.”

Okechukwu continued, “Yes the appointments didn’t favour us, no doubt.” But he told Igbos not to be distracted by that. “Were we better when we had the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Minister of Finance in charge of the economy, Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker, et al, and no infrastructure or incremental entry into power with infrastructure?” he asked. “Let our people know one thing, Buhari doesn’t hate Ndigbo.”
On the perceived marginalisation of the South-east by the present administration, Okechukwu said, “I do not think any section of the country will be marginalised.”

Chairman of APC in Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye, declared that with the defections, the party had dismantled the alleged rigging machine of the PDP in the state, vowing that nothing will stop APC from wresting power from PDP at the next election.

Nwoye spoke at the end of a stakeholders meeting with officials of the party’s national committee on the on-going members re-registration exercise held at the state secretariat in Enugu said PDP was now dead in the area. He noted that with the defection of political bigwigs to APC in the three senatorial districts of the state, “it is now obvious that it is all over for the PDP. It is now clear that nothing will stop the APC from taking over Enugu from the PDP in 2019.”

The Enugu APC state chairman enjoined the people of the state and South-east to use the opportunity offered by the re-registration exercise, which is opened to both old and new members, to embrace the party for the political interest and betterment of the Igbo race.