Tension in Enugu as thousands of LP, PDP, APGA members defect to APC

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At least 5,000 defectors were welcomed into the Enugu State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday under the leadership of Chief Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology.

The defection happened during a protest in the state’s Igbo-Etiti local government area, specifically in Aku town.

Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, the state chairman of the APC, Hon. Sunday Umeha, the representative for the Udi-Ezeagu federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike Muonso, the director general of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, and other party leaders were with Nnaji.

Speaking at the event, the Minister expressed disappointment at what he described as the misappropriation of resources and high taxes in Enugu state, but also said that the large number of people defecting to the APC throughout the state indicates that the public is starting to recognize the projects being carried out by the President Bola Tinubu administration in the state.

The Minister claimed that under Governor Peter Mbah’s leadership, the state’s economic difficulty has gotten worse due to excessive taxes.

He said, “Today in Enugu we are facing a major economic quagmire, today in Enugu we are number two from bottom as the most expensive city in Nigeria. Enugu is a civil service town but still we are the second most expensive city in Nigeria.

“What is the problem? It’s because of the type of tax the government has imposed on our people. A hawker, small girls selling ordinary sachet water, pays between N300 and N500 every day. If you calculate it, he or she is paying over N100, 000 a year.

“If that money is being properly utilized, our teeming young men, the youths and women will have free education, they will have good health facilities for our children and they will have good infrastructure for the state. Today we don’t have all these because our taxes are not being applied where it should be applied.”

Chief Nnaji pledged more jobs for local youth and more federal infrastructure in the state, while praising Engr. Celestine Attah, a former All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the House of Assembly, for bringing together members of the APGA, Labour Party (LP), and Peoples Democratic (PDP) in the local government to join the APC.

In order to draw more federal appointments and infrastructure to the state, the Minister said the APC in the state has been repositioned to take over the government of Enugu state in 2027. He also urged the people of Enugu state to support the party and President Bola Tinubu’s reelection.

“The coming election will not be like the previous one because right now we have a party; before we didn’t have a party, APC before was a mercantile party, a party they use for trading in Enugu state, they use it to trade with PDP. But now all the moles who were trading with the party have been shown the way out.”

Chief Agballah, the APC’s state chairman, thanked President Tinubu in his speech for more federal projects in the state, including the continuing renovation of the Ninth Mile-Opi-Markudi road, which is also being made a dual carriageway.

Prior to the arrival of Bola Tinubu’s APC government, which they never voted for, he claimed that the entire local government was inaccessible for many years under the leadership of the party that the Igbo-Etiti people had supported for 26 years because the road infrastructure into the LGA had completely collapsed.

According to the party chairman, the president has granted the local population two brand-new, international-standard dual carriage express roads, one reaching Opi Nsukka from the Ninth Mile and the other from Makurdi from the same Ninth Mile.

He said, “Our plan in Enugu, we are very intentional in our politics. APC is a party for serious minded ideological change oriented progressives that want to change the status-quo in Enugu because for 26 years PDP leadership has held our people hostage. Enugu, which used to be the number one state in South Eastern Nigeria, is now coming last.

“It’s because of one party system that PDP has been giving us poor governance. So we are going to give Enugu the best, and bring about a creative high performing governance and that’s why we want competitive democracy in Enugu.

“We would want those in the government to promote their party while those in opposition to bring out credible candidates that will vigorously challenge them so that anyone who finds himself in power after 2027 will no longer take the people of Enugu state for granted. We want to restore the dreams of the founding fathers of wawa land.

“When they created Enugu it was first among equals. Enugu was more developed than all states in the entire South East and also South South states of Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom. Enugu was also more developed than Delta state, Enugu was competing with Ibadan, Kaduna and Lagos states which were regional capitals.”

Speaking on behalf of the Enugu State APC House of Representatives caucus, Hon. Umeha forecast that the APC will seize control of the Government House at Enugu State’s Lion Building in 2027.

“For the record, I’m speaking here for myself and on behalf of other members of APC House of Representative caucus of Enugu state made up of myself, my brother Prof Paul Nnamchi and Hon Chimobi Atu.

“Let me emphasize that APC in Enugu state is poised to take the lead come 2027. I have said it and I’m reiterating it again, how it will work I don’t know but I can assure you that come 2027 we will take over the Lion Building.

“The leadership of Chief Uche Nnaji in Enugu state is not only inspiring but result oriented. We are determined to make sure that Enugu state is connected 100 percent to the centre. Enugu is the headquarters of South Eastern Nigeria and we cannot play second fiddle.”

Engr. Celestine Attah, speaking on behalf of other defectors, stated that he was drawn to President Tinubu’s appointment of Enugu Man as the Chief of Naval Staff, the founding of the state’s Naval College, the building of a naval base at Uzo-Uwani, the appointment of Enugu Man as Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the building of the 9th Mile-Opi road.

“What is happening today is the foundation of our contribution to making APC win Enugu state and the massive rally is for Mr. President and for APC to take over the government of Enugu state come 2027,” he said.

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