‘We Won’t Defect To APC,’ Ebonyi PDP Federal Lawmakers React To Umahi’s Defection

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ebonyi National Assembly caucus on Wednesday reacted to the defection of Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The lawmakers said no Federal lawmaker in Ebonyi State is following the governor by leaving the PDP for APC.

Briefing journalists at the National Assembly, the spokesperson for the group Senator Sam Egwu maintained that they remain proud card-carrying members of the PDP.

“Not a single member of the PDP Ebonyi caucus of the National Assembly is defecting to APC.

“The three Senators and five house of Representatives members remain proud card-carrying members of the PDP, the platform under which we contest and won elections in 2019,” Egwu said.

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The lawmakers stressed that they consider it ‘indecent’ for the Governor to give the party conditions in a bid to secure zoning.

Although Governor Umahi has the right to belong to whatever political party he chooses, the lawmakers said he should be mindful of a court ruling that political office holders are not allowed to defect to another political party if there is no division in his original part.

Umahi on Tuesday dumped PDP for APC after weeks of speculation that he had taken the decision to dump the opposition party for the ruling party.

He, however, faulted the claims that he left the PDP to achieve his ambition of becoming the president in 2023.

He told reporters on Tuesday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital that the insinuation that he joined the APC with such an intention was nothing but false.

One of the reasons given by the governor for his defection is that the South East region has suffered what he describes as injustice in the PDP.

The governor disclosed that the decision to leave the PDP for the APC was to protest against what he described as the injustice of the opposition party to the South East.