The alleged planned defection by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is currently unsettling the State chapter of the party, which is led by Ugochukwu Agballah.

Indications that Gov. Mbah was on his way out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerged at the weekend, following his conspicuous absence from the PDP governors’ strategic meeting in Gusau, preparatory to the November 15 and 16 national convention of the party in Ibadan.

During his visit to Enugu State on January 4, when he commissioned an array of infrastructure projects, President Bola Tinubu described Mbah as his close friend, even as he expressed hope that the Enugu Chief Executive would consider joining APC by reason of his faithful execution of projects similar to the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Preparatory to his anticipated defection, old members of the party, who had accused Agballah of hijacking the party and were subsequently suspended, are mobilizing to use the governor’s defection as a pathway to return to the party, even as supporters of the current Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr. Uche Nnaji, are making efforts to stonewall the governor’s entry.

Recall that shortly after the 2023 election, the state executive led by Agballah suspended some prominent members, including Ken Nnamani, Sullivan Chime, Geoffrey Onyeama, Osita Okechukwu, Joe Mmamel, among others, for alleged anti-party activities. Protests by the suspended chieftain could not yield any reprieve as some of the aggrieved accused the governor of orchestrating their removal, even as they alleged that Agballah was not a fully registered member before emerging as party chairman.

As rumours of Mbah’s planned crossover to APC swirled, a former state chairman of the party, Dr. Ben Nwoye, who had resigned from the party, is reported to have started mobilizing support for Tinubu and Mbah to pave the way for his return to the party’s fold.

While Nwoye and his supporters are hopeful that Mbah’s entry would help to push Agballah aside and restore the members of the old party faithful, the governor’s allies maintain that his defection to the APC would not disrupt the leadership structure since, according to them, Agballah is not from the same senatorial district as the governor. (The Guardian)