Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi has confirmed his plan of defecting to the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if the leadership of his party insists on zoning the presidency to the north in the 2023 general election.
Umahi said he would join the APC which he claims would serve the aspiration of the south-east come 2023.
The Governor stated this during a meeting with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP insisting that his decision to exit the PDP was irrevocable.
Members of the PDP NWC who were lead to the meeting by its National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus at the Ebonyi Government Lodge in Abuja tried to persuade the Governor that his exit from the PDP was not necessary as the party still needs him.
Other members of the PDP who were present at the meeting include; Deputy National Secretary, Agbo Emmanuel; National Organising Secretary, Austin Akobondu; Financial Secretary, Abdullahi Maibasira; National Women Leader, Mariya Waziri, and Senator Sulieman Nazif.
Initially, the governor was calm during the meeting until the issue of zoning came up when he insisted that he will leave the party saying that the APC is planning to zone the 2023 presidency to the south-east.
However, Umahi gave a condition that as long as the PDP would zone its Presidency to the North then his time in PDP is up, though his party men claimed that APC has become unpopular.
A source in the meeting revealed that after much persuasion to the Governor that he cannot leave a party that has made him at a different time a Deputy Governor, a two-time Governor, a state party chairman among others, but fall on a deaf ear.
He said, “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.’’
Meanwhile, Secondus, when contacted confirmed that yes the party had a meeting that bordered on National Issues.
