• APC dissolves ward, LG executives in Enugu 
• Mbah’s exit ends political stagnation in South-East, says Obiechina
• Ude-Okoye, Chukwunweike quit PDP in race for Enugu APC chairmanship

Ahead of tomorrow’s formal defection by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), all his appointees yesterday decamped to the APC.
 
They dumped the PDP after an extended cabinet meeting held at the Government House, presided over by the governor. A video posted by Mbah’s Media Aide, Dan Nwomeh, which confirmed their deflection, saw the appointees brandishing APC’s flags and chanting Mbah’s praise.
 
The state officials could be heard in the video praising President Bola Tinubu and chorusing ‘We are now in APC, Tomorrow is here; it is APC all the way; it is Jagaban all the way.”
 
Apart from the commissioners, all other aides of the governor have also declared for the APC. The State Chairman of the PDP, Dr Martin Chukwunwike, resigned from the party. Chukwunwike is set to declare for the APC tomorrow alongside Mbah.
 
Also yesterday, messages were circulated to the 17 local councils through their chairmen detailing arrangements for their movement to the Michael Okpara venue for the defection of the governor.
 
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC in the state, Dr Alex Chukwuemeka Obiechina, has said that the exit of Mbah from the PDP marks the end of years of political stagnation in the South-East region.
 
Obiechina, who spoke with journalists in Abuja yesterday, said that Mbah’s planned defection to the APC demonstrates political courage and a firm commitment to progressive governance.
 
He described the governor’s move as a bold step that aligns Enugu with national progressive politics and liberates the state from what he called “the enclave of political wickedness.”

However, as part of efforts geared towards strengthening and repositioning the party for future political contests, the APC has announced the dissolution of all its local council and ward executive committees in Enugu State.
 
Newly inaugurated Caretaker Chairman of the party in the state, Dr Ben Nwoye, announced this yesterday, during a stakeholders’ meeting for the Enugu West Senatorial District.
 
Nwoye said that the decision followed the directive from the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) after extensive consultations with critical stakeholders at both the national and state levels.

 He stated that the dissolution was aimed at creating room for a more inclusive and vibrant leadership structure that would reinvigorate the party’s presence at the grassroots.

The caretaker chairman, however, gave the assurance that the process would be transparent and provide equal opportunity for all members willing to serve.

BUT as the national leadership of the APC has cleared all hurdles to the admission of the Enugu State governor into the ruling party today, a contender for the post of National Secretary of the PDP, SKE Ude-Okoye, yesterday, resigned his membership of the PDP in readiness to emerge as APC state chairman.
 
Ude-Okoye, while announcing his resignation from PDP via a letter addressed to the PDP Chairman, Agbogugu Ward, Awgu Local Council of the state, said that his decision to part ways with the PDP was based on the fact that the party has “strayed far away from its original purpose.”