Following the defection of former Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martin Elechi, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), in what pundits describe as “mother of defections, last week, JACOB OGODO, in this piece, examines its implications for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the state, among other issues
For quite some time now, there have been political developments in Ebonyi State, with some politicians defecting to the two dominant parties in the state, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress Congress(APC) .Mother of defections
Th e mother of defections was that of two term former Governor of the state, Chief Martin Elechi. Elechi defected to the APC when some Chieftains of the party at both state and national levels including Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Natioanal Chairman of the party Chief John Oyegun who was represented by National Vice Chairman of the party, South east Chief Emma Enukwu, National Publicity Secretary of the party South east zone, Chief Hyacinth Ngwu, Kashim Imam, Chief Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu, Enugu state Chairman of the party Dr. Ben Nwoye, among others visited him in his Echi-Alike hometown in Ikwo Local Government Area of the state.
Th e APC leaders visited the former governor after a thanksgiving service at St. Th eresa Catholic Cathedral Abakaliki organized by the state chapter of the party to thank God for the recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari. It could be recalled that Elechi had distanced himself from the activities of the PDP after the party’s primaries in state for the 2015 the general election which his preferred candidate and former minister of Health Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, for governorship position failed to make it. All other PDP candidates for various positions also failed to make the primaries as he lost the party structure to his Deputy, Chief Dave Umahi, who is now the governor of the state.
He was said to have been instrumental to the emergence of a business mogul, Chief Edward Nkwegu, as the Labour Party candidate for the general elections and other candidates of the party in that 2015 elections. Th e LP candidates lost all the positions in the general elections.
Campaign Team
Recently, all eff orts made to reconcile the former governor with the incumbent Governor, Engr. David Umahi, failed but the former governor made a dramatic volte-face and declared for the APC, during the visit of the party chieftains to him in his hometown last Sunday. Th e visit was led by Dr. Onu. Elechi was the leader of the campaign team when Onu contested Ebonyi governorship in 1999, on the platform of All Peoples Party (APP).
Th e two elder statesmen however parted ways in 2007, when Onu re-contested the governorship on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP) and Elechi ran under PDP, which he(Elechi) won. Since then, both men have remained ‘political enemies’ until last Sunday when Onu led the APC Chieftains to Elechi to receive him into the party. Elechi had registered for the APC at his country home in Echialike, Ikwo Local Government Area, in front of some national party leaders during the visit. According to Elechi, he decided to join APC due to his love for Buhari, and the current state of the PDP occasioned by its protracted crisis. “I knew Buhari 49 years ago when I started the movement for the creation of Ebonyi, as he intervened during my arrest with nine other comrades, by offi cers of the defunct Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO).
I was interrogated while standing for nine hours and he as the Brigade Major in Abakaliki at that time, ordered our immediate release. “I thank God for his health as he had favoured the people of Abakaliki and will triumph in his onerous task of rescuing the country from misrule. “He is the person Nigerians are waiting for as the Boko Haram and corruption issues could have been indescribable if God had not brought him to power,” he said. Th e former governor said that he was proud of the PDP due to the democratic ideals of its founding fathers, but its present leaders have truncated the ideal. “I was elected governor on two occasions under its platform as it used to be the pride of Africa, but was suddenly ravaged by selfinfl icted crises and affl ictions.
NPN
“In 1983 when I was the Secretary of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the old Anambra, the budget for the national elections in Anambra and Imo, now South East zone, was N170,000.
“In 2015, however, the budget for my impeachment was N3 billion and this was followed by the distortion and malpractice recorded in the primaries and congresses to elect the PDP candidates. “Th ose who were heavily bribed and intimidated with oaths were elected to participate as delegates as court injunctions were illegally secured to perpetrate these acts. “Armed security men surrounded people’s homes during the elections, ballot boxes were snatched and all forms of impunity perpetrated,” he said. He described the APC as the alternative for Ebonyi people and the Igbo race and thanked the party for off ering him and his supporters, a political platform to identify with.
PDP–God forbid “
Th ree years ago, I would have attacked anyone who said Ebonyi belongs to APC, but currently, me identify with PDP–God forbid’’, he said. He noted that he was joining the APC with all his supporters. In his remarks, Onu, thanked Elechi for the decision and noted that President Buhari will be pleased to receive the news of his defection. “What you did today will never be forgotten in the history of the state as we all should support President Buhari to actualize all his objectives for Nigeria.” He described Elechi as a good leader who will be useful to the party through his wealth of experience. He called on Nigerians to appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari’s eff orts to make the country better and place it enviably before the committee of nations.
Meanwhile, the state council of elders has dismissed the defection of Elechi to the APC as a non- issue. Th e elders said Elechi’s movement to the APC and not be felt by the elders, the state and the PDP his former party. Chairman of the elders council and former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ambssador Franklin Ogbuewu who was fl anked by members of the council, noted that Elechi was insignifi cant in the politics of the state and cannot prevent the state Governor from being re-elected in 2019. He noted that Elechi left PDP long time ago and only formalized his defection on Sunday. ‘’Chief Martin Elechi sometime said he has resigned from active politics and has no reason to come back to politics again. So, he must having the reason for coming back probably he is coming for retaliation in the political humiliation he suff ered in 2015.
“But the issue is that what he did not do as a governor, he could not stop Dave Umahi from becoming the governor of the state, how does he think he can do it now he is no longer a sitting governor? It is not possible no matter the combination he is going to bring in, it will not work”, he said. He said, “ If Elechi did not stop Umahi in 2015 when he was seeking to become the governor of the state , is it now that Umahi is the incumbent and Chief Executive that he will stop him? “Elechi’s defection will not stop Umahi’s re-election in 2019, he is now an ordinary citizen, and Umahi is a substantive Chief Executive.”, he said. Th e elders urged Umahi to publish the fi nancial records of the state for the eight years Elechi ruled the state.
“If Umahi fails to publish his predecessor’s fi nancial records, we the elders will now take it on him that he is holding us back,” Ogbuewu said.
Defectors
Speaking against the backdrop of other top politicians who defected from the PD P to the APC, Senator Soni Ogbuoji, representing Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone in the Senate, and Chief Onwe Solomon Onwe, former National Secretary of the PDP, Ogbuewu said Umahi’s following in the state was overwhelming, stressing that the defectors would make no impact in Umahi’s re-election bid.
“Th e issue is that when the chips are down, we would know who is in the majority, and who has the backing of the people,” he said. Former member of the House of Representative representing Ezza South/ Ikwo federal Constituency, Chief Innocent Ugo Chima, during the press conference, debunked Elechi’s statement that he (Elechi) was the founding father of the state State. A public Aff airs analysts, Dom Isute in his own comment on Elechi’s defection said “the same Elechi who organised a world press conference at the Governor’s lodge Government House Abakaliki when he was governor to announce that Buhari, Onu and opposition party governors should not come.
‘Elechi: Mother of defection’
to Ebonyi to campaign for Buhari, that he cannot guarantee their security. He denied them the use of Abakaliki stadium and did everything to truncate the campaign of the ANPP. “APC should watch out who its real enemies are. Th e same people including former governors who promoted and sponsored impunity are now rushing to join APC. Th ey have refused tp stay and salvage the party(PDP) which they destroyed”.
But a group, Ebonyi Democratic Vanguard lauded the former governor for leaving the PDP, saying Elechi was humiliated in the PDP. National Coordinator of the group, Mathias Nwankwo in a press statement said “yes, people may be saying all sorts of things against Elechi for joining the APC. You don’t expect a man who was so humiliated in his party to continue to be in the party.
High jacked Party Structure
“Everybody saw how he was treated in the PDP primaries when the party structure was high jacked by these heartless politicians who are crying wolf on his defection to the PDP. Th ey took over everything in the party and did not allow him to have a single candidate of the party for the general election when he is the leader of the party as a sitting governor in the state”, he said.
Th e truth of the matter is that to some Ebonyians, Elechi s defection came very late in that his loyalists who defected to labour party before the 2015 general election have all gone back to peoplesDemocratic Party from where they came from after the party recorded abysmal failure in the election.
Th e economic recession which bedevelled the country also did not help matters as politicians who were with the former Governor had to embrace the hand of fellowship extended to them by the PDP led government under Governor David Umahi as many of them now are already serving as aide to the Governor in various capacities such Senior special assistants, Technical assistants and other positions.
Elechi s loyalists
In a nutshell, majority of the Elechi s loyalists have been bought over Governor Umahi who is not only a grassroots politician having served as a party chairman under Elechi and also he knows the political terrain of the state and used that to ensure that all the strong men who abondoned the in search of greener pasture returns as he promised to off er them whatever they are looking for.
Also, the leadeshipr crisis in the state chapter of APC, has helped to weaken the party in Ebonyi state. Th ere is a sharp division between the faction led by the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, and the one led by Senator Julius Ucha, who is believed in so many quarters to have a relationship with the PDP. From all indication, Ebonyi state is purely a PDP state for now unless something happens in the future to change but that will be an ardous task as Ebonyi people seem to be comfortable with what they have.
