Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As reactions trailing last Thursday’s official defection of some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is gradually dying down, rumours have emerged that more members of the APC are rearing to also decamp to the PDP.
À staunch member of the APC in the state confided in TPCN yesterday in Port Harcourt that more members are planning to dump their party for the PDP from information at his disposal.
He said the only thing that will stop this next defection move is a prompt proactive move by the leaders of his party to give every member a sense of belonging.
He said the fact that the APC lost somebody like Ogbonna Nwuke was enough reason for their party leadership to sit up before they lose all their capable members.
“It’s unfortunate that this defection is happening at a time we should be working as one united family to fine-tune our strategies for 2023 which is already by the corner. Honestly, it’s not good for us as a party that we’re losing our capable members to our main opposition party at this time, given the battles we have faced and are still facing in the past five or six years now.
“When I heard that Chief Ogbonna Nwuke was planning to leave us, I thought it was a mere rumour until he officially resigned. But I didn’t in my wildest dreams imagine that he will join PDP, knowing the things that have happened in the past.
“But you see, this is what happens when somebody is aggrieved. To us who are in the party, it may not make sense but to them, it may mean a lot, because they have their reasons for being aggrieved; they also have a right to express their feelings and my worry now is that more of our members may join them soon,” the source explained.
On what he thinks can make more APC members in the state defect to PDP, the source, who hails from Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, said: “People have their reasons for doing whatever they want to do; God has given everybody that free will. So, people who are defecting from APC to PDP have are doing so for reasons best known to them. Am not in their minds to know their main reasons. But the general opinion is that they are not happy with the leadership of the party.
“As a staunch member of APC, I’m bothered about the development because nobody goes to war with a divided house. If we intend to win the governorship battle in 2023, then there’s need for us to arrange our house well by ensuring that every member of the party is happy. If some members are aggrieved, let’s find out why they’re aggrieved and angry instead of waiting till they defect and then we begin to abuse them.”
The Rivers APC had described the defection of some of its members and the programme organised by the PDP to officially receive them on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at Isaac Boro Park, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, as a melodrama used to siphon state funds.
The APC also tagged the defectees dead wood, a statement that attracted criticism from some APC members who felt it was reckless of their party leadership to react that way.
The statement, issued by the media department of the APC, read in part:
“The Ponzi scheme by the PDP is now taking a different turn as the party now exhumes old dead woods and persons of insignificant political value and stage fake reception ceremonies with tax payers’ money…”
Towing the same part with the Rivers APC, some members of the Amaechi Vanguard, a political pressure group mobilising support for the presidential ambition of transport minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, also criticised the action of the decampees, particularly Chief Ogbonna Nwuke. Chairman of Amaechi Vanguard, Innocent Amadi, on his Facebook page for instance, described it as shameless.
However, some political analysts believe that more surprises await both the Rivers APC and PDP as both parties prepare to lock horns again in the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.
The analysts cite the defection of some key members of the PDP, including a former commissioner for urban development under Governor Nyesom Wike, Reason Onyia, to the APC a few months ago, while a year earlier, a chieftain of the APC, Allwell Onyesoh, had decamped to the PDP with his followers.
As the days roll by, with 2023 drawing closer, it seems Rivers people are eagerly waiting to see how the APC will deal with more defection drama likely to unfold as rumoured.
