An avalanche of defections has begun in Imo State following the emergence of Hope Uzodinma as the new governor of Imo State.
The Supreme Court had on January 14, 2020, in a controversial ruling nullified the election of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State having served just seven months in office.
Nine members of the Imo State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance and Action Alliance on Tuesday defected to the All Progressives Congress.
Before the defections, the PDP had 13 members in the House, the AA had eight, while APGA had six making the total of 26 members.
The lawmakers who defected are
- Authur Egwim ( Ideato North) from the AA to the APC,
- Chyna Iwuanyanwu( Nwangele) from the PDP to the APC,
- Chidiebere Ogbunikpa (Okigwe) from the PDP to the APC,
- Obinna Okwara (Nkwerre) from the AA to the APC
- Paul Emeziem (Onuimo) from the PDP to the APC.
- Ekene Nnodimele (Orsu) from the APGA to the APC,
- Johnson Duru (Ideato South) AA to the APC,
- Ngozi Obiefule (Isu) AA to the APC,
- Heclus Okorocha (Ohaji/Egbema) from the PDP to the APC.
With these defections, APC which had no lawmaker in the house now has nine members tying with former majority party PDP whose member strength has been reduced to Nine. AA lost half its members, reducing to four while APGA lost just one member to drop to five members.
These defections should come as no surprise as It is a well-known fact that Nigerian politicians owe no allegiance to any political party but to their pockets and personal interest, hence the ease at which they dump their parties for new ones if they fail to promote their agenda.
Uzodinma’s Shocking emergence
While some legal experts may comfortably explain the technicalities that led to the Supreme court’s January 14 ruling, many Nigerians are still struggling to understand how the APC candidate, Hope Uzodinma, who came fourth in the polls behind Uche Nwosu of Action Alliance and APGA candidate Ifeanyi Ararume emerged governor.
Nwosu, who is also an in-law to the immediate past governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, withdrew the appeal following an earlier Supreme Court ruling declaring his candidacy illegitimate while Ararume having come third in the elections did not even contest the Ihedioha’s emergence in the March 9th elections.
In its decision, The court sacked the governor on the grounds that “Vote due to the appellant Senator Hope Uzodinma and the APC from 388 Polling Units were wrongly excluded from scores ascribed to the appellant during the collation of the final governorship election.”
Therefore with the addition of results from the 388 polling units, Uzodinma polled a majority of the lawful votes and was declared the winner by the apex court.
Meanwhile sacked Imo governor, Emeka Ihedioha described the Supreme Court verdict as “unfair, unjust and does not reflect the voting that took place during the elections.”
He, however, thanked the people of the state for their support in the achievements recorded within the space of seven months by his administration.
PDP Protest Supreme Court Ruling On Imo
Meanwhile Members of Peoples Democratic Party on 19th and 20th of January staged peaceful in Imo State and Abuja, the Federal capital territory to protest the Supreme Court ruling
In Abuja, The protesters led by the National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and other party stalwarts matched to the supreme court to express their anger over the judgment that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State.
The demonstration kicked off from the secretariat of the part located around the Maitama area of Nigeria’s capital.
We are yet to see the result if any, the protest will yield as the supreme court has the final say in all constitutional matters.
Meanwhile from the defections being witnessed at the Imo House of Assembly, it seems the politicians in the state are adjusting and realigning themselves to move on with the new government of the day
