Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, who spent 8 years as deputy governor, 4 years as state chairman , two-time governor under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest for the 2023 presidential election.
Umahi has informed the Uche Secondus-led national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja that he was ready to quit the party.
The governor made his defection known on Tuesday, November 10, confirming the speculations that Umahi is parting his ways with the opposition blocks.
Speaking to the PDP national working committee members in his home in Abuja, Umahi was said to have maintained that his decision to leave the party is irrevocable and can never be stopped.
Apart from Secondus, among those that were at the meeting at the Ebonyi Governor’s Lodge in Abuja were Deputy National Secretary, Agbo Emmanuel; National Organising Secretary, Austin Akobondu; Financial Secretary, Abdullahi Maibasira; National Women Leader, Mariya Waziri and Senator Sulieman Nazif.
The governor was said to be friendly when he received the PDP delegation, but stuck to his decision to leave the PDP when the issue came up.
It was gathered that the PDP delegation impressed it upon the governor that there was no need leaving the PDP for the APC, which they argued had become unpopular.
Newsflash247 gathers that Umahi told the PDP leadership that he will be pitching his tents with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing South-East 2023 presidency project as the reason for his actions.
According to an inside source, the governor was said to be convinced that the ruling party may zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the Southeast.
Although members of the PDP NWC include; the Deputy National Secretary, Agbo Emmanuel, Women Leader, Mariya Waziri, and the National Organising Secretary, Austin Akobondu tried to persuade the governor to stay, Umahi maintained that no going back on the decision.
Sources at the meeting, however, said the governor was not convinced, insisting that the APC was planning to zone the 2023 Presidency to the South-East.
He was said to have promised to stay in the PDP if the party could make a pronouncement that it would zone the Presidency to the same zone.
One of the sources said, “I think his (governor’s) mind was made up. We told him there was no need for him to abandon the party that had made him a deputy governor, state chairman of the party, two-time governor and all that. But he refused.
“He wanted us to unilaterally zone the office of the Presidency to his area. We cannot do that. Parties are not run that way. He told us he was leaving. That is what we got from him.’’
When contacted, Secondus confirmed that the party’s leadership met with Umahi.
He, however, refused to declared the details of the meeting, insisting that the meeting was on ‘‘national issues.’’
