From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
Two former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwarts in Enugu State, Senators Jim Nwobodo and Ken Nnamani were yesterday formally admitted into the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The two, who were registered at their Amechi ward, Enugu South Local Government Area of the state in the ongoing registration and re-validation of members in the South-East, said their exit from the PDP would deal a deadly blow on the party.
Senator Nnamani, who was registering in the party for the first time, said their exit would be an end of the road for the PDP in the zone.
Former Senate President, Nnamani, however, said he was not forced by anybody to join the APC, stressing that he opted to do so according to his conscience.
Nnamani, who currently heads the National Electoral Reform Committee, said as long as God gives him strength, he would continue to identify with winners.
His words: “In politics of our nation, if you read in between the lines, you will not ask anybody who has finished buying something from the market to buy something for you. He is tired, he will not buy anything.
“You must identify with somebody going to the market. I will not waste my money to invest in a group of people who have finished buying. As God gives me strength, I will identify with potential winners. If that makes me opportunist, so be it.
“APC is not perfect, but we will join hands in making it perfect. I am playing according to my conscience. Many people will criticize me, saying I left a party that helped to make me. I quit PDP on February 6 last year and went on sabbatical. By February 6 this year, it will be one year that I left PDP. I must not remain partyless. I have decided to join APC. Nobody forced me. It is my decision. I will tell my supporters why I joined APC at the appropriate time. If a song is going on, if the rhythm changes, you change your steps.
“South-East has a role to play in our nation. We cannot stay outside and keep crying. We have to be inside to make a change and not from outside. If we want the imbalance to be addressed, we must come inside. You cannot stay outside and be throwing stones. Nobody will listen to you.”
After the registration of Nnamani, the Enugu State APC bigwigs, who included the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu; National Vice Chairman South-East, Emma Eneukwu; State Chairman, Ben Nwoye; and Chief Onyemuche Nnamani, went to Senator Nwobodo’s house to also re-register him.
After his re-registration, Nwobodo said for the country to move on the right direction, the South East zone must be given its due in the nation, pointing out that the country was standing on a political tripod of North, West and East.
Nwobodo, who was a former governor of old Anambra State lamented that he got nothing in the 17 years he was in the PDP, saying that even when he had helped in installing some people in positions, his own finished soon after the elections.
He said he has long standing relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari and had urged him to continue to run for the presidential elections even after his third attempt.
He, therefore, called on the party members in Enugu State to stop all bickering and ill-feelings and join hands to move the party forward.
Nwobodo, who said he was re-registering having registered in the past with his wife, urged the people not to mind what was happening now in the country.
, saying that things would change for the better.
Welcoming Nnamani and Nwobodo to the APC fold, the DG of VON, Mr Okechukwu said that while they were open to new members, they have to be cautious not to admit those who in one way or the other participated in dislocating the PDP.
“My fear is that they may also wittingly or unwittingly infest the APC Enugu State with such anti-democratic and less than transparent tendency.
“One can remember vividly not only how Senator Nnamani and the governor of Kastina State, His Excellency Aminu Masari worked hard to re-organise and re-position the PDP, and most importantly how he killed the infamous Third Term,” Okechukwu said.
Earlier, the State Chairman of APC, Mr Nwoye described the entrance of Nnamani and Nwobodo into APC as the beginning of change in Igboland.
East Youths Movement, (BUSEYM) has congratulated the newly emerged leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Chief John Nnia Nwodo.
The pro-Buhari group called on Nwodo to steer his executive and members towards a warmer relationship with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government in the overall interest of Ndigbo.
In a press release issued in Enugu, the Enugu State capital and signed by BUSEYM’s Director-General and National Publicity Secretary,
Nwabueze Onwuneme and Igwe Samuel Obinna respectively, the group felicitated with Nwodo and the new executive of Ohaneze and urged them to seek a closer and amicable relationship with President Buhari as their priority in this dispensation.
“As a socio-cultural apex body of Ndigbo, Ohaneze should wean itself completely from partisan politics and focus entirely in guaranteeing the welfare and socio-economic well-being of Ndigbo.
“It is in this regard that BUSEYM applauds the emergence of a rounded personality and an intellectual giant like Chief John Nnia Nwodo emerging as the new president-general of Ohaneze-Ndigbo. With his pedigree as a nationalist and people-oriented leader, Ohaneze could not have made a better choice considering contemporary challenges of Ndigbo.
“In the face of these challenges, we urge chief Nwodo to steer the Ohaneze Ndigbo towards a friendly disposition towards the Federal Government. Chief Nwodo, though a politician through and through, must distance himself from politics of the day and chart a new part of cooperation, collaboration and consultation with President Buhari’s administration,” BUSEYM stated.
The group noted that so far, President Buhari has signified and initiated actions to carry the South-East along despite the fact that the geo-political region is predominantly controlled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“It is significant and worthy of commendation that projects that had been in limbo in the South East in the past 16 years of the PDP administration are now being jumpstarted. Notably, President Buhari has released funds and mobilised on-going works at the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Enugu -Onitsha and Umuahia-Ikot-Ekpene etc Federal highways respectively.
“President Buhari has equally considered the plight of the down-trodden by initiating the payment of N5,000 monthly stipends to the poor as he promised in his electioneering campaigns. All these and lots more show that President Buhari is indeed president of all Nigerians.
“And it is in these regards we urge Ohaneze to cooperate with him, so Ndigbo would be able to appropriate what rightly belongs to them in the federal commonwealth.”
The group asked the duo of Senator T.A Orji and Sam Onuigbo to desist from taking credit for the on-going construction work on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road as the projects were initiated and being done by the President Muhammadu Buhari led-APC Federal Government which the PDP government then could not do or attract while in power in the centre and in the state. It called on the people of the South East zone not to be deceived by their antics.
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Buhari South-East Youths Movement, (BUSEYM) has congratulated the newly emerged leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Chief John Nnia Nwodo. The pro-Buhari group called on Nwodo to steer his executive and members towards a warmer relationship with the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government in the overall interest of Ndigbo. In a press release issued in Enugu, the Enugu State capital and signed by BUSEYM’s Director-General and National Publicity Secretary, Nwabueze Onwuneme and Igwe Samuel Obinna respectively, the group felicitated with Nwodo and the new executive of Ohaneze and urged them to seek a closer and amicable relationship with President Buhari as their priority in this dispensation. “As a socio-cultural apex body of Ndigbo, Ohaneze should wean itself completely from partisan politics and focus entirely in guaranteeing the welfare and socio-economic well-being of Ndigbo. “It is in this regard that BUSEYM applauds the emergence of a rounded personality and an intellectual giant like Chief John Nnia Nwodo emerging as the new president-general of Ohaneze-Ndigbo. With his pedigree as a nationalist and people-oriented leader, Ohaneze could not have made a better choice considering contemporary challenges of Ndigbo. “In the face of these challenges, we urge chief Nwodo to steer the Ohaneze Ndigbo towards a friendly disposition towards the Federal Government. Chief Nwodo, though a politician through and through, must distance himself from politics of the day and chart a new part of cooperation, collaboration and consultation with President Buhari’s administration,” BUSEYM stated. The group noted that so far, President Buhari has signified and initiated actions to carry the South-East along despite the fact that the geo-political region is predominantly controlled by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “It is significant and worthy of commendation that projects that had been in limbo in the South East in the past 16 years of the PDP administration are now being jumpstarted. Notably, President Buhari has released funds and mobilised on-going works at the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Enugu -Onitsha and Umuahia-Ikot-Ekpene etc Federal highways respectively. “President Buhari has equally considered the plight of the down-trodden by initiating the payment of N5,000 monthly stipends to the poor as he promised in his electioneering campaigns. All these and lots more show that President Buhari is indeed president of all Nigerians. And it is in these regards we urge Ohaneze to cooperate with him, so Ndigbo would be able to appropriate what rightly belongs to them in the federal commonwealth.” The group asked the duo of Senator T.A Orji and Sam Onuigbo to desist from taking credit for the on-going construction work on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road as the projects were initiated and being done by the President Muhammadu Buhari led- APC Federal Government which the PDP government then could not do or attract while in power in the centre and in the state. It called on the people of the South East zone not to be deceived by their antics. |