No fewer than 5,000 members of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Labour Party, LP, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Umuezeoka Community, Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, at the weekend defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Members of opposition parties in the state have been defecting to the APC since the Supreme Court judgement which affirmed the election of Governor Francis Nwifuru.
Dr Okulegu Bethran Enyim, former Chairman of the Ebonyi State Secondary Education Board and the immediate past Director-General of the 2023 PDP Campaign Council in Ezza North LGA, led over 5,000 persons to join the ranks of the APC.
Okulegu, known for his political influence in Ebonyi Central, praised Governor Francis Nwifuru for his compassionate governance, highlighting initiatives such as the payment of more than eight years arrears of gratuities and pensions, business grants to hawkers, and scholarship grants to Ebonyi law school students.
He also called for unity among political parties, and urged Ebonyians to support the governor’s efforts in building a better Ebonyi State.
The defectors included leaders of the affected political parties in Umuezeoka Ward and those who have served the parties in different levels of administration in the state.
They were received into the APC by the State Chairman of the Party, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha, the State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Jude Okpor, who is from the area and Chairman of Ezza North Local Government Area, Chief Ogodoali Nome.
Receiving the group, Emeagha assured them of the party’s commitment to accommodating all Ebonyi people under Nwifuru’s leadership, emphasizing the governor’s dedication to the welfare of Ebonyi citizens.
