Some appointees of the former governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Ikpeazu governed the state from 2015 to 2023 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The former governor failed to get Okey Ahiwe, the PDP governorship candidate, to win the 2023 governorship election in Abia State.
Mr Ahiwe lost to Alex Otti, who won the election under the platform of the Labour Party (LP).
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Defection
The Leadership newspaper reported that Mr Ikpeazu’s former commissioners and chief of staff were among some top PDP members who defected to the APC on Monday.
The former appointees who defected were the immediate past Chief of Staff to Mr Ikpeazu, Anthony Agbazuere, a professor; the former Commissioner for Information, Chikamnayo Eze; the former Commissioner for Public Utilities, Eze Nwanganga; and the former Commissioner for Environment, Sam Nwogu.
Others were the former Commissioner for Commerce, Godwin Nna and the former commissioner representing Isiala-Ngwa North-South and Osisioma Local Government Areas on the Board of Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, Uzor Ihuka.
The defection of the PDP members to the APC was announced during a meeting of party leaders convened at the instance of Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Nigeria’s minister of state for Labour and Employment.
The meeting was held at the residence of the minister in Isuochi, Abia State.
Mrs Onyejeocha and the National Welfare Secretary of the APC, Donatus Nwankpa, received the defectors into the party.
At the meeting, Mrs Onyejeocha, who addressed the new APC members, expressed her gratitude for their decision to join the party.
She said she was reluctant to convene a meeting since she assumed office as a minister because she found herself in a new work environment and had to focus on her new assignment before making certain decisions.
“I can see some very experienced and seasoned politicians here. I am convinced with the faces I am seeing here today, because they are people who will always win elections in their areas,” she said.
“No plan to join APC,” Ikpeazu reacts
The defection of the PDP members to the APC has sparked speculations, with many suggesting Mr Ikpeazu sanctioned the defection of his former appointees as part of the grand plan to team up with the APC to wrestle power from the state’s ruling party, LP.
But reacting, Mr Ikpeazu said, contrary to the speculations, he has no plan to leave the PDP but will rather stay with others to rebuild the party in the state.
The former governor spoke while addressing members of the PDP at a meeting of party leaders in Umuahia on Thursday, according to a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES by his former Commissioner for Information, John Kalu.
Mr Ikpeazu, according to the statement, called for unity of purpose among members of the PDP in the state to ensure that the party quickly returns to winning ways.
The former governor said that the exit of some of his former appointees to the APC remains their “personal choice.”
“We must all take individual responsibility for our (PDP) performance in the 2023 elections even as our party is going through self-cleansing at the moment. I will remain in PDP and will never be found wanting in my responsibilities to our party and its rebuilding process.
“Those who want to leave will leave no matter what you do but loyalty is also about the realisation that at some point this party has been good to you. It is now time for sacrifice, especially from those who previously benefitted from our party in one way or another as we must all join hands to reposition it,” he said.
‘Nobody can kill PDP in Abia’
In his address, the State PDP Chairperson, Asiforo Okere, appreciated members who have remained steadfast in supporting the party, especially after their loss in the 2023 elections and reminded them that the party still maintains a majority at the state House of Assembly.
Mr Okere announced that the National Working Committee of the party has extended the tenures of elected ward executives by three months in an acting capacity.
He also announced the constitution of three committees to handle peace and reconciliation in the party among others.
On his part, the senator representing Abia Central District, Austin Akobundu, said while people were free to leave and join another political party, the PDP in Abia State is “a movement that nobody can kill.”
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