Barring any last-minute change of plans, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State will soon defect from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.
Sources familiar with the governor’s plan said Mr Mbah has consulted widely with political associates and leaders in Enugu and beyond in recent weeks regarding his planned move.
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Two former governors of Enugu, Chimaroke Nnamani and Sullivan Chime, as well as a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani — all now members or supporters of the APC — are believed to have played critical roles in persuading Mr Mbah to join the ruling party.
One close associate disclosed that the consultation rounds would conclude this week, after which the governor and his inner circle will fix and announce a date for his formal defection.
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Mr Mbah’s imminent departure marks yet another major setback for the PDP, which has governed Enugu since 1999 but is now engulfed in a deepening national crisis. His planned exit comes just three months after Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom and four months after Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta left the main opposition party for the APC.
According to a PDP chieftain Mr Mbah consulted, the governor gave two principal reasons for his looming defection. First is the unending strife within the PDP at the national level, which he reportedly described as a grave threat to the ambitions of anyone hoping to contest on the party’s platform in 2027.
Second, Mr Mbah lamented what he considers the unfair treatment of the Southeast within the party’s leadership structure.
On 30 June, the governor threatened to lead the PDP’s Southeast zone out of the party after Abuja insisted on retaining Samuel Anyanwu as national secretary instead of Sunday Udeh-Okoye, the candidate nominated by the zone.
That warning was ignored, and Mr Anyanwu — a key ally of former Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike — has since been reinstated. Still aggrieved, Mr Mbah is now said to be finalising his move to the APC.
When contacted on Thursday, the governor’s spokesperson, Uche Anichukwu, acknowledged the recent wave of political consultations but said he was unaware of any final decision to dump the PDP.
However, PREMIUM TIMES’ sources, all close associates of the governor, insist they are “100 per cent certain” that Mr Mbah will defect to the APC within weeks, if not days.
Mr Mbah, 53, a lawyer, businessman and politician, was elected governor of Enugu in 2023.
He had earlier in 2003 served the state as Chief of Staff to then-Governor Chimaroke Nnamani and later as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development.
In the past two years of his governorship, his administration has been credited with significant strides in security management, fiscal prudence, innovative governance, and infrastructure and human capital development.
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If he defects as planned, Mr Mbah’s departure will further shrink the PDP’s control to just nine states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara. Of these, Rivers is already under heavy influence of the APC through Mr Wike, a PDP member serving in the APC-led federal government.
The APC, meanwhile, will stretch its dominance to 24 states: Akwa Ibom, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto, and Yobe.
The remaining three states will continue to be governed by other opposition parties: Abia (Labour Party), Anambra (All Progressives Grand Alliance), and Kano (New Nigeria Peoples Party).
