The Ebonyi State caucus of the National Assembly have dumped Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, and announced their decision to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This comes barely 24 hours after Mr Umahi defected to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) from the PDP.
In a press conference on Wednesday, the caucus, which consists of five House of Representatives members and three senators, said no member of the caucus is leaving the PDP.
Reading their resolution on behalf of the members, Sam Egwu, a former governor of the state, said they remain proud card-carrying members of the PDP, the platform on which we were elected
He said while they support that it’s the turn of the South-East to produce the next president, they consider it unwise to give ultimatum and conditionality to the party.
They further stated that Mr Umahi is one person who should be grateful to the PDP because the party had given him an opportunity to serve in different capacities.
Mr Umahi while announcing his defection on Tuesday had said he moved to the APC because of “injustice” meted out to the South-east by the PDP and has no regrets.
He also said he had no deal with the APC or any member of the party with regards to the zoning of the presidential position to the region.
But the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, said the movement was because of Mr Umahi’s ambition to be the APC’s presidential candidate in 2023.
This is even as he accused Mr Umahi of being unfair to the PDP, which gave him the governorship ticket in 2015 and again in 2019.
”My friend, Umahi, wants to be president. There is no problem about that,” Mr Wike said.
“You have a right to be president. Nobody can stop you. You are educated. You have been a governor for two terms, so you are qualified to say I want to be president of Nigeria,” he said.
Mr Umahi’s defection makes him the second APC governor in the region after Imo State governor Hope Uzodinma, who was controversially declared governor by the Supreme Court.
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