The report on Governor Dave Umahi’s planned return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was described as fake by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State on Friday (PDP).
The party’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Simbard Ogbuatu, issued a statement in Abakaliki advising its members to disregard the report.
The APC was responding to a claim made by a PDP chieftain in Abia State simply known as Dr. Isaac Nkole about the governor’s “desperate move” to rejoin the party he left last year.
“The All Progressives Congress in Ebonyi has had the news making the rounds in the media with the headline ‘Orji Kalu, Umahi in a desperate move to return to PDP,’ attributed to one Dr. Isaac Nkole, a PDP chieftain in Abia,” Ogbuatu said.
“The chieftain was quoted in the report as saying that Governor Dave Umahi wants to return to the PDP as well.”
“However, we wish to state unequivocally that Umahi has not made, and will never make, any move to return to the ‘Social Club’ known as PDP, either in person, through a representative, or through a surrogate.”
The APC spokesman insisted that Umahi has been a key member of the party for over a year and urged the public to dismiss the report as a “figment of the originator’s imagination.”
He went on to say that the governor’s decision to join the APC was made for the greater good of Ebonyi and the South-East region as a whole, not for personal gain.
“Umahi’s defection to the national party did not come as a shock to him, nor did he join for personal gain,” he continued.
“The defection is a well-considered decision made in the best interests of Ebonyi in particular and the South-East in general.”
“His Excellency saw the need to follow in the footsteps of former nationalists from the zone, such as late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who had always believed in centre-right politics.”
