Oshiomhole:  S’East Can’t Trust PDP Again After 16 Years Betrayal 

•   Party failed to fix region’s decaying infrastructure 

Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia

The National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, yesterday berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for allegedly betraying the Southeast zone in spite of the massive support it enjoyed in the zone for the 16 years it was in power.

He said that the former ruling party failed to reciprocate Ndigbo’s support as it did not fix the decayed infrastructure in the Southeast by the time it was pushed out of power in 2015, saying that the people of Southeast would no longer make the mistake of trusting PDP again.

Oshiomhole stated this at the flag off of the APC governorship campaign for the 2019 general election where the party’s flags were presented to the candidates that emerged from a faction of the party, including Mr. Uche Ogah, whose candidature had been quashed by an Abuja high court.

He said that all that the Southeast got from PDP was empty promises that were never fulfilled while the few people that were given appointments did not use their positions for the welfare of the people and only came home to invoke ethnic sentiments at election periods.

“The PDP was doing earmark with projects in Southeast but APC is doing eye work,” he said, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at rehabilitating abandoned infrastructure in the zone was visible for all to see.

Citing the second Niger Bridge which he said PDP government was only content in ground breaking ceremonies without actually embarking on actual construction of the bridge while the existing one was getting weaker and weaker.

The absence of Mr. President took the shine off the rally as the organisers had prior to the event, maintained that he would grace the event, and the party faithful were in high expectation to see him come to Umuahia and address them.

Turning to Abia State, the APC national chairman said that the state was ripe for APC takeover due to the abysmal performance of the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.

Aside from Oshiomhole other high ranking leaders of APC came to give support to the party in Abia. They included former Abia governor and minister of science and technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and his labour and employment counterpart, Dr Chris Ngige.

In his acceptance speech after receiving the party flag, Ogah promised the people of Abia that within two years, “I will restore what PDP destroyed in 16 years”.