Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress.
The gover finally affirned his decision on Tuesday.
Indications have been rife for a while of the governor’s plan.
It was learnt that the leadership of PDP made some overtures to the governor to stave off the defection, but it appeared he had made up his mind.
The governor had told the party the motivation for his defection was that palpable injustice against the South East region in the PDP.
But Governor Nyesom Wike dismissed such Umahi’s claim, saying that the main reason is Ebonyi governor’s desire for the office of the presidency.
Incidentally, South has the highest concentration of PDP supporters in the country.
Umahi contested for the office of the governor in Ebonyi State in 2015, on the platform of the PDP and won.
Upon concluding his first term, the governor won the bid to extend his stay in office in the 2019 general elections, again as the PDP candidate.
In 2007, Umahi led the PDP in Ebonyi in acting capacity, and later served as the party chairman between 2009 to 2011.
Later that year, he emerged as the running mate to former Ebonyi State Governor, Martin Elechi, and became the deputy governor after they won the election.
While Elechi’s tenure neared conclusion, the former governor supported a former Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, to succeed him – a move which was rejected by Umahi.
Umahi, who accused Elechi of violating an understanding that he would succeed him, later faced Chukwu and others in the PDP primary.
He clinched the PDP’s governorship ticket while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him the winner of the 2015 election after meeting the requirements to hold the position.
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee of PDP has announced the dissolution of the ward, local government and state executive committees of the Ebonyi state chapter of the party, in an obvious move to obviate the impact of the defection.
The NWC has also dissolved the Southeast Zonal Caretaker Committee of the party.
These measures were taken after the meeting of the party’s NWC on Tuesday.
According to the spokesman of the party kola Ologbondiyon, “these decisions are pursuant to the powers conferred on the NWC by the PDP Constitution.”
Signed
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
