Against the purported defection plans of Governor Umahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has allegedly summoned an emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The meeting, THISDAY gathered has been slated for Thursday, November 19 at the National Secretariat of the party, Wadata Plaza, Abuja.
But, preparatory to the Thursday emergency NEC, the Board of Trustees (BoT), the very best advisory organ of the party, is additionally scheduled to satisfy on Wednesday at 2pm.
Consequently, the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, who last Tuesday told a delegation of the PDP NWC led by the National Chairman, Uche Secondus, that he had made up his mind to go away the PDP, is believed to possess been making overtures to his Abia State counterpart, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, to travel with him to the APC.
Meanwhile, in its bid to reposition before next elections, the South-west leadership of the PDP has acknowledged the roles of the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, within the region and agreed to figure with him to maneuver the party forward.
Umahi was reported to possess hinged his planned defection to the agreement with the APC that the presidential candidate of the party would be zoned to the South-east.
He claimed that the PDP had been unfair to the South-east since 1999, because it has deliberately refused to zone the presidential ticket of the party to the zone.
Besides, the zone was said to not be proud of the appointment of Peter Obi because the campaigner to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP within the last election .
A source within the PDP said Obi was an imposition as there have been politicians within the South-east that would have given more credibility and weight to the zone in terms of attracting more votes.
THISDAY was however informed that aside his decision to defect to the APC, Umahi has also been making efforts to woo other PDP governors within the zone to travel with him to the APC, with Ikpeazu being the primary on his list.
According to a source that was aware about a number of the undercurrents, “The move is to possess a minimum of three APC governors within the South-east and use it as a canvassing opportunity to convince the APC leadership to offer the APC presidential ticket to the zone.”
Inside sources also claimed this was with the consent of the leadership of the pan Igbo socio-cultural group, the Ohaneze Ndigbo.
“Election is like warfare and every one is sweet in any war. Since the PDP has deliberately refused to zone its presidential ticket to the zone, the Igbo will accompany any party that panders to its interest. inspect since 1999, the Southeast has been a backbone of the PDP and zip to point out for it.
“South-south has produced the President of Nigeria within the person of Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo from the Ssouthwest was president on the platform of the PDP for eight years. The northwest has had it in late Umaru Yar’Adua and though, he didn’t win, the Northeast produced the presidential candidate of the PDP within the 2019 election . Something has got to be done to the Southeast for its massive support to the PDP”, the source said.
It was for this reason that the PDP has summoned an emergency NEC meeting to deal with this concern of the PDP within the Southeast.
A chieftain of the party and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, last week, described the report of the planned defection of Umahi as “troubling”.
Fani-Kayode therefore urged the PDP national leadership to pacify Umahi as more governors within the party might follow the Ebonyi governor to the APC.
He tweeted thus: “I urge the leadership of the PDP to try to to all they will to make sure that he stays. Not only is he a profoundly good man and a superb governor, his contributions to the success of the PDP over the last 20 years at various levels are immeasurable and easily extraordinary.
“What makes the matter worse is that other governors can also contemplate leaving if he does because he features a lot of friends and goodwill amongst them. If that happens, it’ll affect our party’s chances within the 2023 presidential election during a very significant way. Again, I turn the National Chairman and therefore the NWC of our great party to try to to all they will to stay Umahi on board.”
