Rumours of Governor Peter Mbah’s possible defection to the APC have unsettled the political landscape of Enugu State since they surfaced last week. LAWRENCE NJOKU examines the implications of the move for the governor and the state’s politics.

Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, has remained in the spotlight since last week following rumours of his planned defection from the crisis-ridden Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

It was gathered that Mbah has allegedly held talks with key figures in the APC and has informed some members of the National Assembly, particularly those elected on the PDP platform, about his intentions.

The immediate past Enugu State Chairman of the APC, Dr Ben Nwoye, lent weight to the rumours when he stated publicly at the weekend that efforts were underway to “bring Mbah into the APC.”

Nwoye, who had earlier resigned from the party citing “irresolvable conflicts and leadership crisis in the state,” declared upon his return to the APC: “My second goal is to appeal to our performing governor (Mbah) to join us; and join the ranks of progressives. Those are my basic goals. If we don’t bring him in, the man who got about 14,000 votes during the governorship election, who is going around deceiving people, will have fewer votes in 2027.

“In the entire Enugu, he scored 14,000 votes across 17 local government areas during the governorship election, and then you are telling people that in 2027, you will beat an incumbent governor who scored over 160,000 votes, and then you are now saying that four years later, you will defeat him.”

Supporters of Governor Mbah have heightened the tension by questioning whether the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Uche Nnaji, can deliver Enugu State to President Bola Tinubu and the APC in 2027, following what they described as his poor showing in 2023.

Nnaji, who was the APC’s governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, placed a distant fourth but was subsequently appointed Minister. He has since declared interest in contesting the 2027 governorship election and has repeatedly expressed confidence in his chances of winning the state for the APC.

However, Mbah’s support base maintains that the Minister lacks the political strength to win the state and insists that his “appointment as Minister is undeserved, having not helped the party in any way.” They also accused him of trying to block the governor’s entry into the party by making disparaging remarks.

The current wave of speculation about Mbah’s potential defection has grown stronger, driven by perceptions that he may have been sidelined within the PDP.

Sources claim that certain conditions have already been presented to him to facilitate his move to the APC. Among them is an alleged agreement to share government appointments equally between the APC and PDP, both at the state and local government levels.

Nonetheless, speculation about Mbah’s departure from the PDP is not new. Since the start of the year, he has been linked to possible moves to dump the PDP, particularly in favour of the ruling APC. These speculations are rooted in his growing ties with APC leaders at the federal level, especially within the presidency.

At the peak of the rumours in June, Mbah denied plans to leave the PDP, reiterating his commitment to delivering the dividends of democracy under the party. He also expressed optimism that the PDP would resolve its internal crisis, noting that Nigeria’s constitution does not permit independent candidacy.

“I am still in the PDP; as you can see, the flag behind is that of the PDP. Other political parties in the country are also facing challenges,” he was quoted as saying.

However, in May, Mbah led the South-East caucus of the PDP to a meeting he presided over, where they resolved to reconsider the region’s relationship with the party if its preferred choice for National Secretary was denied.

Mbah’s faction of the party had unanimously rooted for Sunday Ude-Okoye for the office of the national secretary against Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who was enjoying the support of other members of the party in the region. Mbah’s South-East PDP had insisted that Anyanwu lost the position the moment he left to contest the governorship election of Imo State in November 2023.

It was a reaffirmation of the position of the zonal leadership taken in October 2023.

But later in June this year, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party reaffirmed Anyanwu as its national secretary—a development that altered the position of the Mbah-led South-East PDP.

In reaction, many of the party leaders who had long opposed Anyanwu in favour of Ude-Okoye—and were present at the meeting where they resolved to ditch PDP if Ude-Okoye was not accepted—made good on their threats and pitched their tent with the newly formed African Democratic Congress (ADC). The onus was therefore on Mbah to fulfil his side of the bargain and make good the threat as proposed.

Last month, Mbah paid a visit to the Abia State governor, Alex Otti—the first to any governor in the zone since he emerged in 2023. Although he said the visit was part of efforts to strengthen ties with the state, especially on issues of economic interest, no sooner had their meeting ended than rumours spread that it was about the possibility of pitching to a new political platform. Like Mbah, Otti’s Labour Party (LP) is also in disarray.
Mbah, in the last two years, has been the rallying point of the PDP in the South-East, being the only governor that emerged on the platform of the party after the 2023 general elections. His vantage position automatically made him the leader of the party in the region.

Although he has been accused of not using the position to rally the party in the region effectively, he has, however, done well for himself and the party in Enugu State by dismantling the LP and pulling its members, especially elected officials, into the PDP. This, many said, is enough reason for him to remain in the PDP.

Should the alleged movement be consummated, he would go into history as the first governor produced in the state to jettison his party for another while in office.

A former National Auditor of the party, Ray Nnaji, told The Guardian during an interview that he would want Mbah to remain with the PDP and help solve the challenges besetting it.

“There is no political party in Nigeria without a problem. Joining another party would not take away the challenges of politicking in that party. Wherever he intends to go, he will be treated as a new member. His entrance may also create new challenges that may even engulf his stay,” he stated.

Another chieftain of the party, Cletus Okenwa, however, said that he supported the move, based on the inability of the national leadership of the party to protect the interests of the governor when it mattered most.

He referred to the nomination of a replacement for the National Secretary, which he said was highly fought for by the governor, stressing that, “If the wishes of former leaders are being respected in the party, how much more that of a serving governor who is also the leader of the party in a zone that had always supported the PDP?”

He continued: “How do you think the NEC-recognised National Secretary (Anyanwu) will see Mbah when he brings anything to his table, after the battle to remove him? Even though it is all politics, I really don’t think that he will be free to relate with him. The other thing is that almost everybody that matters in the South-East has left the PDP, so what is Mbah still doing there? His eventual exit will mean the obituary of the party in the region.”

Another school of thought, however, queried the motive behind running into another party when the governor is adjudged as “performing” in office so far, stressing that only those relying on federal might to earn a second term could contemplate abandoning their original political parties.

“He is, so far, doing well, unless he is not convinced about himself; unless he has something to hide; unless he is not speaking the truth to the Enugu people. Those governors he wants to join in other parties are not better positioned. If we are in a society where the votes of the people count, not all governors serving today will return to office. Let him stay put and test his popularity. Even if he should move, he should do that after winning his next election,” a social commentator, Igwebuike Ugwu, stated.

Meanwhile, some members of the PDP in the state, under the aegis of the Concerned PDP Stakeholders Forum, have declared that they will not defect to any other political party. They held that PDP remained the only party known to the people of the state, stressing that they would not sit and watch some people balkanise it.

The concerned members, who spoke in Enugu through their leader, Ozo Okey Ozoani, the immediate past vice chairman of the party in Enugu West zone, vowed to remain and rebuild the party.

“We are here to rekindle the hope and support of our members for PDP and to tell them that the PDP is the party to beat,” Ozoani stated, recalling that Enugu had remained a PDP state right from its formative stage in 1998.

Ozoani noted that some members were beginning to feel that the PDP was no longer strong, stressing, however, that “we are here to rekindle their interest, to tell them that the PDP is intact and there is nothing that will make the PDP not win the coming elections.

“Enugu people don’t know any other party except the PDP. It is very difficult to go to the wards and tell people about any other party,” he added, lamenting that some founding leaders caused problems in the party “and are now defecting to ADC and other parties. The people decamping from the PDP are the people who caused the problem concerning National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu.

“Anyanwu has never been removed, from the onset, from the convention; the constitution of the PDP said someone who wants to run for election may resign; so, he took to the other side. He came back to his office and they remembered it late. When he left, that was when they could have removed him, but they allowed him to contest and come back,” he added.

The group insisted that it was wrong for any member of the party to leave solely because “the choice of Ude-Okoye was not honoured,” stressing that the “threat by the South-East leaders of the party in that regard was uncalled for.” All eyes are indeed on Governor Mbah’s next moves.