By CHARLES IWUOHA

A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, said at the weekend that lack of trust in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) simulated the mass defections of members to APC in droves.

Okechukwu, a former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), made this claim in a statement on Sunday in Enugu, directly responding to remarks by Senator Aminu Tambuwal, who recently declared that ?no one with conscience will join the APC.?

Hitting back, Okechukwu accused Tambuwal of hypocrisy, stating that he played a key role in destabilizing the PDP. ?Tambuwal cannot in good conscience talk about morality when he was instrumental in wrecking his own party. The trust deficit created by the PDP leadership is why members are defecting to the APC in large numbers,? he said.

Tambuwal, the former Governor of Sokoto State, had voiced concerns at the PDP North-West Zonal meeting about the wave of defections, suggesting that many were driven by personal gain rather than public interest. But Okechukwu dismissed this claim, arguing that the mass exits stem from the PDP?s repeated violations of its own principles, particularly the breach of the party?s rotation convention.

?One cannot understand how my friend, Sen. Tambuwal, ignores the fact that breaking the rotation agreement was a betrayal,? Okechukwu stated. ?Especially when his close ally, Nyesom Wike, honored the agreement in 2018 by ensuring that no southern candidate contested against him in the presidential primaries.?

Okechukwu described the current state of the PDP as a party in disarray, paralyzed by internal power struggles and incapable of playing its role as a formidable opposition force. He warned that the much-hyped coalition to challenge the APC in 2027 is unlikely to materialize, as greed and factionalism will prevent the PDP from forging a solid merger.

?The party is already pushing a laughable permutation of South 17 and North 11 years in Aso Rock, as if Nigeria only gained independence in 1999,? he said.

Taking a swipe at Tambuwal?s political calculations, Okechukwu asserted that the northern electorate is far more sophisticated than PDP leaders assume. ?They act as though they own 100% of the North?s votes and can simply direct the electorate like puppets. But the reality is different.?

He also dismissed claims that defectors were leaving the PDP for financial benefits, insisting the real reason was the party?s failure to inspire confidence among its members.

?The defections are not about ?stomach infrastructure,? as Tambuwal claims. They are about the PDP?s leadership trust deficit,? Okechukwu concluded.