Nnamani, Nwobodo’s defection raises political dust in Enugu
The defection of prominent politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-East, precisely Enugu State, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), has elicited questions from many quarters. Is the new development a sign of true realignment or
Defections by major politicians in the SouthEast to the ruling All Progressives Congress started in January 2016, when the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo and Senator Fidelis Okoro, alongside their political associates, dumped their party. Okoro once represented the Enugu North senatorial district on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. Others have also followed their footsteps.
Shortly after the ceremony to announce his defection, Nwobodo also changed his Christian faith from Anglican to the Roman Catholic Church.
On February 7, 2016, another political heavyweight in the state, Chief Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu, popularly called GNG, joined the APC in his Akpugoeze community, Oji River Local Government Area. A good number of the national officials of the party from Abuja, led by its deputy national chairman, Olusegun Oni, attended the ceremony. Since then, the tempo of defection in the state has not reduced. Before pitching his tent with the APC, Gbazuagu, a frontline politician, had stayed away from political activities for about 15 years after his failed attempt to govern Enugu State on the platform of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP). He also contested on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). He almost clinched victory when he was halted by the then military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Although there have been movements from other parties to the APC by politicians who are not popular in the state, the defection of the former Senate President Ken Nnamani and the revalidation of Senator Jim Nwobodo seem to have raised some dust in the politics of Enugu State. Nwobodo and Nnamani were registered at their ward in their Amechi community.
As if that wasn’t enough blow for the PDP in the state, the immediate past speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Chief Eugene Odo, along with his supporters, on Monday, dumped the party for the APC.
Nnamani said their defection from the PDP would mark the end of the party in the SouthEast, stressing that nobody forced him to join the APC. He said he followed his conscience in taking the decision, adding that he would continue to identify with winners.
“Many people will criticise me, saying that I left the party that made me. But I quit the PDP on February 6 last year and went on sabbatical. I have now decided to join the APC. I will tell my supporters why I joined the party at the appropriate time. The South-East has a role to play in our nation. We cannot stay outside and keep crying,” he said.
Also speaking after his registration, Senator Nwobodo said that for Nigeria to make meaningful progress, the SouthEast must be given its due share in the country. He said he didn’t get anything for being in the PDP for 16 years, and appealed to all APC members in the state to stop bickering and join hands to move the party forward.
On his part, former Speaker Odo, who formally joined the APC about 48 hours after Nnamani and Nwobodo, said it was quite unfortunate that the PDP derailed as a result of impunity and other forms of undemocratic acts by its leaders at all levels.
“How does one expect a political party where impunity is the watchword and order of the day to succeed? But we are glad that today we have found succour in the APC. By the grace of God we are coming into the party with not less than 10,000 people,” he said. Odo completed his membership registration at his Ukehe ward 2 in Igboetiti Local Government Area of the state.
Odoh had indicated interest in the 2015 governorship election in the state but was denied the PDP ticket during the primaries, a development that pitched him against the immediate past governor, Sullivan Chime, who was reportedly against his ambition.
Basking in the euphoria of the defections, the Enugu State chapter of the APC has said that nothing would stop it from winning the governorship election in 2019; even as it boasted that it had dismantled all the rigging instruments of the PDP. The party advised the present PDP administration in the state to begin to prepare to quit the Government House in 2019, stressing that it has put necessary measures in motion to actualise the goal.
Although many chieftains of the PDP in the South-East are moving to the APC, what is not yet clear is whether those defectors still have the political clout to attract large followership to their new party.
Addressing journalists after its stakeholders’ meeting with officials of the party’s national committee on the ongoing re-registration exercise at its state secretariat, the Enugu State chairman of the APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye, boasted that the PDP was dead and buried in the state.
Dr. Nwoye, who was joined in the media briefing by the chairman of the National Committee on Re-registration, Rev. John Ibeabuchi and other principal officers of the party in the state, reiterated his earlier position that the exercise, which began on Saturday, January 21, 2017, was opened to all progressives and true democrats in the state.
In his remarks, Rev. Ibeabuchi explained that the re-registration exercise, which is expected to last one week, was aimed at enabling the APC ascertain the capacity of its membership, just as he corroborated Dr. Nwoye’s statement that the exercise was opened to all and sundry.
However, a member of the PDP Security Committee during the 2015 presidential campaign and former commissioner for local government and chieftaincy matters in the state, Prince Sam Ejiofor, lampooned Nwobodo and Nnamani for defecting to the APC, saying, “The same people who killed the PDP will also kill the APC.”
Ejiofor, who is a founding member of the party in Enugu State, condemned the situation where certain party members would climb to the peak of their political careers on the platform of the PDP, only to turn round and betray it. He said their action was a real demonstration of insincerity, dishonesty and lack of patriotism.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Enugu, Ejiofor argued that there was no need for them to leave the party. “Nnamani is trying to protect his business interest; he is not there for you and me. Nwobodo is trying to see if the federal government could help him reopen his Savannah Bank, which was closed by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo. So everything is all about personal interest. We know all this,” Ejiofor said.
A lecturer in the Department of Political Science in the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), who did not want his name mentioned, said the defectors would have to give good reasons for their action.
“They need to give convincing reasons on why they defected and whether the Igbo nation stands to gain anything. You don’t just browbeat people into your party. You must convince them. Most of the defectors to the APC did so because of their personal interests, not the interest of the South-East as they claimed,” the lecturer said, adding that it is still too early to describe any party as the strongest or weakest in the area because events can change the political temperature of the place.
“May God keep us alive till 2019. The party that wins election then will be the strongest,” he added.