Governor Peter Mbah’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) faces a fresh challenge as some leaders of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the banner of Concerned Enugu State PDP Stakeholders, at the weekend reiterated their commitment to stay in the party to rebuild it ahead of the 2027 elections.

This follows the declaration by members of the dissolved State Executive Committee (SEC) of the APC, led by Ugochukwu Agballah, to seek legal redress over their dissolution by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
It will be recalled that at its 179th meeting held on October 9, 2025, at the National Secretariat of the APC, the NWC dissolved the Enugu SEC and appointed a seven-man caretaker committee headed by a former state chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye.

Consequently, Governor Mbah, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, alongside members of his cabinet and 23 of the 24 State Assembly members, officially defected from the PDP to the APC, citing the unjust treatment of the South East by the PDP leadership.

The defection, however, has continued to generate mixed reactions, with some members of the PDP criticising Mbah’s decision, insisting that it was driven by personal interest rather than the welfare of the people.

Addressing journalists in Enugu, on the weekend, Dr Okey Ozoani, former PDP State Youth Leader and ex-vice chairman Enugu West senatorial district, as well as Engr Nick Ozoani, a former executive Chairman of Udi Local Government Area in the state, expressed their resolve and that of other PDP members to remain in the party to rebuild it after Mbah’s exit.

“I thank God that they have defected, so we will now come back and rebuild our party, PDP,” said Okey Ozoani.
“I urge all PDP members, the true PDP members, to remain resilient and calm as good things are coming,” he added.

Ozoani questioned the benefits of Mbah’s defection, asking, “Is defecting going to reduce taxation in Enugu State? Don’t you know that Enugu State is the most costly state in Nigeria to live in and highly insecure?”

He said it was easy for the governor to dump PDP because he was never a pioneer member but joined in 2003 before he was appointed Chief of State to Gov Chimaroke Nnamani and later Commissioner for Finance, adding that even after leaving office in 2007, Mbah went to Lagos and never related with the party until he became governor in 2023 through the efforts of party members.

“Of course, you know I’m the Chairman of Enugu State PDP Stakeholders Forum, and if you follow our trajectory, we have been begging him (Gov Mbah), ‘Sir, please don’t leave. Whatever the problem is, you don’t leave the party; you stay to build’. If (Nwesom) Wike is the problem, we can go to Wike. Wike is not a spirit, he is not living in heaven, we can go to him and say ‘Please leave this governor for us, he is our governor, he is PDP governor’.”

On his part, Engr Ozonsi called for a serious reform of the Nigerian political system, saying, “What is wrong is what you cannot do in party A, how are you going to do it in party B?”

He added, “Nigerians should take the case of defections and the case of abandoning a party that nurtured them very seriously.”

Meanwhile, in a recent statement, the aggrieved members of the Ugochukwu Agballah-led dissolved SEC vowed to contest their sack through constitutional means.

They stated that the APC Constitution (Articles 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, and specifically Article 21.3(VI)(D) vests disciplinary jurisdiction and first instance intervention in the Zonal Executive Committee (South-East) and contemplates that disciplinary recommendations be referred to the NEC.

They therefore declared that the NWC has no power to dissolve a State Executive Committee on its own initiative.
The SEC members maintained that the action of NWC “flagrantly contravenes the constitution” of the party and undermines the principles of fairness, equity, and due process.

“We therefore direct all organs of the APC in Enugu State, ward, local government, zonal, and state, to remain in their offices as duly elected officers and to continue discharging their constitutional responsibilities”.