Following the latest defection of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State to the All Progressives Congress, APC, some leaders of his former occasion, the Peoples Democratic Social gathering, PDP, beneath the aegis of Involved Enugu State PDP Stakeholders, on the weekend restated their resolve to stay within the occasion to rebuild it forward of the 2027 elections.
That is approaching the heels of the declaration by members of the dissolved state government committee, SEC, of the APC beneath the management of Barr Ugochukwu Agballah, to hunt authorized redress over their dissolution by the Nationwide Working Committee, NWC, of the occasion.
It will likely be recalled that at its 179th assembly held on October 9, 2025, on the Nationwide Secretariat of the APC, the NWC dissolved the Enugu SEC and appointed a seven-man caretaker committee headed by a former state chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye.
Consequently, Governor Peter Mbah on Tuesday October 14, 2025, alongside members of his cupboard and 23 of the 24 State Meeting members, formally dumped PDP for APC, citing the unjust remedy of the South East by the PDP management.
The defection has, nonetheless, continued to generate blended reactions, with some members of PDP criticizing Mbah’s resolution, insisting that it was pushed by private curiosity somewhat than the welfare of the individuals.
Addressing journalists in Enugu, weekend, Dr Okey Ozoani, former PDP State Youth Chief and ex-vice chairman Enugu West senatorial district, in addition to Engr Nick Ozonsi, a former government Chairman of Udi Native Authorities Space within the state, expressed their resolve and that of different PDP members to stay within the occasion to rebuild it after Mbah’s exit.
“I thank God that they’ve defected, so we are going to now come again and rebuild our occasion, PDP.
“I urge all PDP members, the true PDP members, to stay resilient and calm nearly as good issues are coming,” Okey Ozoani stated.
He questioned the advantages of Mbah’s defection, asking, “Is defecting to APC going to cut back taxation in Enugu State?
“Don’t you recognize that Enugu State is the most expensive State in Nigeria to stay in and extremely insecure?”
He stated it was simple for the governor to dump PDP as a result of he was by no means a pioneer member however joined in 2003 earlier than he was appointed Chief of State to Gov Chimaroke Nnamani and later Commissioner for Finance, including that even after leaving workplace in 2007, Mbah went to Lagos and by no means associated with the occasion till he grew to become governor in 2023 by the efforts of occasion members.
“In fact you recognize I’m the chairman of Enugu State PDP Stakeholders Discussion board, and when you comply with our trajectory, now we have been begging him (Gov mbah), Sir please don’t depart.
“No matter is the issue, you don’t depart the occasion, you keep to construct. If (Nwesom) Wike is the issue, we will go to Wike, Wike isn’t a spirit, he isn’t residing in heaven, we will go to him and say please depart this governor for us, he’s our governor, he’s PDP governor.”
On his half, Engr Ozonsi, referred to as for a critical reform of the Nigerian political system, saying, “What’s improper is- what you can not do in occasion A, how are you going to do it in occasion B?”
He added, “Nigerians ought to take the case of defections and the case of abandoning a celebration that nurtured them very significantly.”
In the meantime in a latest assertion, the aggrieved members of Ugochukwu Agballah-led dissolved SEC, vowed to contest their sack by constitutional means.
They claimed that the APC Structure (Articles 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, and particularly Article 21.3(VI)(D) vests disciplinary jurisdiction and first occasion intervention within the Zonal Govt Committee (South-East) and contemplates that disciplinary suggestions be referred to the NEC.
They declared that the NWC had no energy to dissolve a State Govt Committee suo motu.
The SEC members allaged that the motion of NWC “flagrantly contravenes the structure” of the occasion and undermined the rules of equity, fairness, and due course of.
