Ogba Leaves PDP, Set to Join APC
“….He left long ago unnoticed”, Nwoba, PDP spokesman in Ebonyi
The immediate past Senator representing Ebonyi Central zone at the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Obinna Ogba has finalised plans to leave the PDP and move into the APC with the remains of his political relevance in Ebonyi State.
Iyierioba.com learnt that the Senator convened a meeting at his residence in Ebonyi on Sunday, 13th day of August, 2023 with the 13 Chairmen of the party in the 13 local government areas of the state in attendance. All was well as the invitees trooped into his compound in rapt eagerness to know the crux of the unfamiliar invitation until the Senator started telling them the reason for the invitation. According to a source who quoted the sacked Chairman of the party in Ezza South LGA, Barr Friday Agbom who was also in attendance, the Senator briefed the chairmen of his readiness to quit the PDP for the APC on Tuesday, 15th August, 2023 at the occasion of the opening of his radio station in Abakaliki, an event the Governor, Hon. Francis Nwifuru is said to be attending.
Another source at the meeting hinted Iyierioba.com’s reporter that the move of the Senator from PDP to the APC isn’t unconnected to the humiliation he suffered during the governorship primary election of the party in which he was reportedly betrayed by party’s stakeholders and supporters for other aspirants. Ogba we learnt boycotted the governorship primary in protest of the disappointment which saw him out of the equation.
Further investigation of our reporter revealed that the Senator who later pitched tents with the APC a fortnight to the general elections in Ebonyi is merely trying to fulfil his own side of the bargain with the incumbent government of the APC in the state in readiness to welcome the appointment slots packaged for his men in the Government in appreciation of his service during the election. We learnt also that the defection is coming on the heels of the future humiliation he might face in the PDP and quitting the stage when the ovation is high became a paramount decision to save himself from such.
When our reporter contacted the Publicity Secretary of PDP in Ebonyi State, Nwoba Chika Nwoba to hear the party’s side of the development, Nwoba confirmed the rumour saying, “Uche, it’s no longer rumour the slavish quitting of Ogba from the PDP. Ogba left PDP long before the governorship primary election. Sen. Ogba is no longer in PDP. He’s merely trying to make news out of a non-issue by trying to make it look as if he’s leaving the party in pomp and pageantry. PDP has moved on from the shenanigans of Ogba”.
He continued:
“It’s unfortunate in the first place the reposition of the party’s senatorial ticket to him in 2015 and 2019 respectively as he remains the most disappointing law maker from the South East since his foray into the Senate. It’s a shame that he’s now trying to make it look as if he’s still in PDP when it’s known to everybody in Ebonyi State that he openly worked for APC before, during and after the general polls. So, nobody is leaving PDP in Obinna Ogba. PDP didn’t notice his leaving the party as he couldn’t deliver his polling booth to his APC. If he likes, let him join all the political parties in Nigeria, PDP has come to stay in the state”.
“Uche, let me take you down memory lane a little: Ogba as a Sergeant in the Nigeria Police Force around 1998 resigned from the Force and joined PDP in 1999 after the polls of that year. As a vibrant secondary school leaver, the Governor of Ebonyi State, His Excellency, Dr Sam Egwu brought him into his PDP government and made him SA on Sports. He later made him Commissioner and then Chairman of the party in Ebonyi State. When his bid to contest Governor in 2007 failed, he exiled himself from the politics of Ebonyi and relocated to Enugu. When in 2014 the strange wind of party nominations blew, at the time of Elechi-Umahi succession debacle, he was invited by the then Deputy Governor, David Umahi and made him senatorial candidate. He later won on the popularity of the party and got reelected in 2019. So, it’s right to say that Obinna Ogba is an ingrate, spiting a political umbrella and daring to tear apart that which gave him shelter from the rain. Imagine him remaining in the NPF till now, as secondary school leaver, how far could he have gone in the force? In summary, Obinna Ogba is not a PDP member, unless he’s telling us that he wants to defect from APC and rejoin same APC”, Nwoba concluded.
