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Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has claimed that Governor David Umahi’s defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC) was informed by his 2023 political ambitions.
This comes after the Ebonyi State governor in a state broadcast on Tuesday said his defection to the ruling party was occasioned by his conviction that the APC cares more about the interest of the South East zone.
The Ebonyi state governor said that he was quitting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to the injustice meted out to the people of the zone despite years of overwhelming support for the party.
Reacting to the development, Wike in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kevin Ebiri said that contrary to claims made by Umahi, the PDP had been fair to the South-East zone.
Wike said that the defection did not come as a surprise because Umahi had been too close to the ruling party over time.
He said, “My friend, Umahi wants to be president. There is no problem about that. 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.
“My reaction to Governor Umahi’s defection is not that he has no right to defect, but to say he is defecting because of injustice meted to the South-East that is insulting to the South-East.”
Wike pointed out that under the PDP, the South-East had over the years produced Senate Presidents; National Vice Chairman of the PDP and Secretary to the Federal Government.
He urged the PDP National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee to take decisive steps to ensure that PDP does not die in Ebonyi State.
Umahi, at the briefing, rebuffed reports that he was dumping the PDP to pursue a presidential ambition.
Umahi said, “I am not driven by selfish interests but because we need to protest against marginalisation. We have benefited more from the APC government. I didn’t start this protest today. I have no regrets. In life, you have to be courageous.
Meanwhile, Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP said, “The PDP is not aware of the defection of any of our governors. Our governor in Ebonyi State raised some issues which as a party, we are looking into them.”
This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.