The Nigeria Lawmakers Opposition Coalition has revealed that 40 legislators and two additional governors are on the verge of defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing disillusionment with the party’s leadership and direction.

Spokesman of the coalition, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, disclosed this during a press conference held on Friday in his hometown of Akokwa.

Ugochinyere expressed disappointment in the current state of the PDP, asserting that its founding fathers would be ashamed of what the once-proud party had become. He accused the current leadership of sabotaging the platform that brought them to prominence.

The coalition demanded the immediate sack of the party’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum; the PDP’s 2023 governorship candidate in Imo State, Senator Samuel Anyanwu; and the expulsion of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. They also called for the emergence of a substantive national chairman from the North Central zone to save the party from collapse.

“For two years, the leaders of this party have failed to find a solution to its internal crisis because they are actively undermining the very platform that made them,” Ugochinyere stated.

He criticized Damagum’s statements invoking divine guidance, questioning his inaction during critical party decisions. “Where was God when you allowed the North Central to be sidelined in appointing an acting chairman? Where was God when you supported APC defectors in court? Or when party structures were handed to APC members? And yet you speak of faith in God?”

He also questioned the continued membership of Wike in the PDP despite his open collaboration with the APC-led federal government.

Ugochinyere further used the platform to draw attention to the severe erosion crisis ravaging his constituency, Ideato. He appreciated the federal government’s intervention in the N25 billion Umuchima erosion control project, commending both federal and state efforts.

“I thank the federal and state governments for their commitment, but in other parts of my constituency, especially the Umuechi-Urualla axis, the erosion is out of control. It’s threatening St. Jude’s Catholic Church, the king’s palace, and federal infrastructure. The situation is dire,” he warned.

He revealed that a previous World Bank erosion control project in the area worth N9 billion had been abandoned due to mismanagement by the former state administration, resulting in worsening conditions.

Ugochinyere appealed to the federal government and the Ministers of Works and Environment to take urgent action: “Please intervene and save our people from being cut off by this devastating erosion menace.” (Vanguard)