The Governor of Ebonyi State,
Dave Umahi, told the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in
Abuja on Tuesday that he was leaving the party.
He said he would join the ruling
All Progressives Congress which he claimed would protect the interest of the
South-East in the 2023 elections.
Our correspondent gathered that
Umahi told the members of the National Working Committee of the PDP that his
decision to join the APC was
irrevocable.
The members of the PDP NWC, who
were led to the meeting by its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, were
said to have tried in vain to convince the governor not to abandon the party.
Apart from Secondus, among those
that were at the meeting at the Ebonyi Governor’s Lodge in Abuja were Deputy
National Secretary, Agbo Emmanuel; National Organising Secretary, Austin
Akobondu; Financial Secretary, Abdullahi
Maibasira; National Women Leader,
Mariya Waziri and Senator Sulieman
Nazif.
The governor was said to be
friendly when he received the PDP delegation, but stuck to his decision to
leave the PDP when the issue came up.
It was gathered that the PDP
delegation impressed it upon the governor that there was no need leaving the
PDP for the APC, which they argued had become unpopular.
Sources at the meeting, however,
said the governor was not convinced, insisting that the APC was planning to zone the 2023
Presidency to the South-East.
He was said to have promised to
stay in the PDP if the party could make a pronouncement that it would zone the
Presidency to the same zone.
One of the sources said, “I think
his (governor’s) mind was made up. We told him there was no need for him to
abandon the party that had made him a deputy governor, state chairman of the
party, two-time governor and all that. But he refused.
“He wanted us to unilaterally zone the office
of the Presidency to his area. We cannot do that. Parties are not run that way.
He told us he was leaving. That is what we got from him.’’
When contacted, Secondus
confirmed that the party’s leadership met with Umahi.
He, however, refused to declared the details
of the meeting, insisting that the meeting was on ‘‘national issues.’’
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com