A former Nigerian lawmaker in the Second Republic, Dr Junaid Muhammed, has said the recent defection of Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a meaningless move which would earn him nothing but the rejection by those who felt he betrayed them.
Junaid who stated this in an interview with Daily Sun, added that leaving the PDP for APC is not an upgrade, but like moving from frying pan to fire.
He said the fact that he defected alone without the members of the Ebonyi State assembly following him, showed the governor is on his own, and would neither deliver Igbo votes for himself, nor whoever emerges as the presidential candidate of the APC come 2023.
Asked whether Umahi’s defection would lead to something good for his political ambition, he replied, "Nothing. I must note that almost all his members in the NASS have refused to follow him. I don’t know what people of Ebonyi want to gain from this shenanigan of Umahi. He has the right to do that. But, I felt it would have been more honourable for him to wait until the time he leaves his position as governor.
"This move if Nigerians were to be a thinking people, we should be asking correct questions like what is the difference between APC and PDP? If you are abandoning a party for another party, it should be on some solid core principles.
"Unfortunately, there is no principle in APC, no principle in PDP. The two parties are nothing but the two sides of the same coin. I don’t see how Umahi will deliver Ebonyi votes let alone Igbo votes to whoever become the candidates of APC come 2023.
"His action was just typical political opportunism in Nigerian political class who have been thoroughly known as an irresponsible political class who cannot see beyond their nose and that is because they are very bad students of history."
Umahi’s defection has caused a bit of stair in the State as calls for the Governor's impeachment is gaining momentum.
A group known as the Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID), asked the Ebonyi State House of Assembly to embark on the impeachment of the governor.
The group said there is already a substantial breach of the Nigerian constitution and subsisting Supreme Court verdicts which insist that a governor cannot defect to another political party unless there is internal leadership crises, perhaps leading to factionalization in his own political party.