May 12, (THEWILL)- Three days after he resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Mbutu Ward, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo state, the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, paid a surprised visit to Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
“Delighted to have met with my esteemed brother and friend, Governor @alexottiofr, at his residence in Isialangwa. We had a convivial discussion, even as I commend his giant strides in Abia State,” he wrote on his X handle.
The ex-governor of Imo State whose tenure was terminated by a controversial Supreme Court ruling in on January 14, 2020, blamed his resignation on the party because it had, “taken a path that is at variance” with his belief and despite his attempts to offer counsel, “the party, is, sadly, not able to carry out reforms, enforce its own rules or offer credible opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress.”
Explaining further two weeks later, he said he left the PDP because of his large followership’s desire for him to lead a change and rebuild Imo State.
Speaking on his exit from PDP, Ihedioha said: “It was bound to happen. So far, the tendencies operating in the party remained there, for quite some time, the warning shots were very clear, just before the election, yes there were issues, but it makes sense that we get into the election convinced to regain power at the federal level and a number of states. But of course, several things happened and after the elections, the issues came to the fore.”
Ihedioha said that he and his group spoke about the need to address those issues, but rather than address those issues and a barrage of demands, they saw a further drift from the desires of the people in a manner that was inconsistent with the mission and vision of the founding fathers of the party, which joined at its inception in 1998 and served as director of publicity.
So, he said, he acted essentially based on the desires of his large followership and his support base back at home and nationally who felt the party had lost its bearing and there is a need for them to forge ahead.
He painted a sorry state of the party in the state during the last governorship election in 2023.
According to him, “It was our most dismal performance. The PDP did not win one single LGA in Imo State. When I ran for office in 2019, we didn’t have one single member in the State House of Assembly, but I led the party to victory. We won 13 seats in the Assembly and won the governorship election with close to 100,000 votes difference with the major opponent. In 2023, we saw abysmal performance and nothing was done to remedy the situation.”
Recall that the party headed into that governorship election with the party’s serving National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu as its flag bearer despite stiff opposition by stakeholders in the state, who felt the decision improper and inconsistent with the party’s constitution on holding office.
Offended by the silence of the national leadership of the party to resolve the matter in response to several petitions they wrote, many members of the party in Imo started to have second thoughts about the relevance of the party in Imo State. And when the party lost in the governorship race, things took a turn for the worse.
Ihedioha’s resignation a fortnight ago precipitated the ‘mass movement’ from the party. But so far, none of the aggrieved members and leaders have indicated the party they are moving to. Although Ihedioha’s sudden visit to Governor Otti gave a clue, THEWILL learnt that the ex-deputy Speaker is still testing the waters before giving his teeming supporters the platform to defect to.
THEWILL learnt that barring any changes in the political climate in the South-East, the Labour Party may be the next platform of Ihedioha and his group. The geo-political zone fell in love with the Labour Party due to Peter Obi’s rebranding as its presidential candidate in the 2023 General election. A close aide of the Imo ex-governor confided in this newspaper that the politician will take time to make his political views public because his supporters and followers are still not united on which party to defect to, though the choice weighs heavily in favour of LP.
The source said that on a scale of one to five, LP was far ahead of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. APGA has a foothold in Anambra, but with Obi still active in the political scene and Governor Otti’s victory in Abia, LP had taken the shine off APGA, he said.
“I know that he (Ihedioha) is always in discussion with Peter Obi, but the current leadership crisis in the Labour Party may be responsible for the former governor’s decision to wait awhile. Because of this, his camp is divided. Few want APC, many prefer LP, others say APGA. It might be LP, but do not quote me.”
The idea is to prepare early enough for the late 2027 governorship poll on a r platform that a presidential hopeful has made popular in the geo-political zone.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
