The All Progressives Congress, APC, has reportedly given a marching order to All South-East Governors, to join to ruling party, to ensure their smooth return to power, in 2019.
Post-Nigeria reliably gathered that, the massive defections of political bigwigs to the APC recently, were a ploy to ensure that the South-East political zone, is taken over by the ruling party.
A top APC source, said that ahead of the 2019 elections, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors in the South-East, are mandated to move over to the APC, to secure their re-election, as the political odds will be stacked high against them.
Recall, that in the last election, the South-East voted the least for the APC, but in recent times, the turnover of defectors to APC from the South-East, has become a source of concern to political pundits, who view the development as a strategic move by the ruling party, to strip non-APC Governors in the South-East of political clout, in 2019.
Sources hinted that said that the move is predicated on the belief that though APC may not win in all the States of the South-East in 2019, but it is apparent that the party will have a compelling presence in every State, unlike what was previously the case.
Besides, the obvious fact that ‘federal might’ often sways in favour of the ruling party, a source explained why the APC would be the party to beat in the next general elections.
He said: “When you look at the political landscape, APC is about the best structured party on ground, as of the moment following the disarray in the PDP. This country is ripe for change. We need to change a lot of things in this country. So I believe in change.
“We would have made some changes in PDP if Jonathan had won, but since he didn’t win, the person who won said he is willing to make changes, so we are willing to join him and be part of the change process.”
He stated further: “If you look at the last election, Igbos voted at least 95 percent for PDP, and we can imagine what it looks like for Igbos again to begin to move out of PDP in droves. As the people say, they have seen the light.
“The people in the West voted 50/50; the people in the North voted like 95 percent, but they didn’t have to move into the ruling party, because they were already in the ruling party, but those of us who are outside in the cold, we want to join the government, we want to be a part of this change, we want to help restructure Nigeria, not necessarily because they are in government, they are the best positioned at the moment to provide succor for the embattled long suffering members of the society.”
Other key loyalists of the party who have vowed to serve the PDP government a quit notice, include former Governorship candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the State, Chief Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu; former Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Chief Eugene Odo; and the former Secretary to the State Government, Chief Onyemuche Nnamani.
A top government official said the news has been making the rounds for some time now, but the State is however committed to the PDP.
