By Tony Adibe
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Enugu State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of “selective mnemonic dysfunction,” following what it said was the party’s inability to provide a consistent account of how many alleged NDC members recently joined its ranks.
Also, the Enugu State NDC insisted that “Political propaganda cannot replace evidence, and inflated figures cannot manufacture a political structure that does not exist.” The party argued that the discrepancy in the figures of the so-called defectors being bandied about by the PDP left much to be desired in the eyes of right-thinking people.
The Enugu State Secretary of the NDC, Dr. Sebastine Chukwuebuka Okafor, made the assertions in a press release issued on Sunday while reacting to reports claiming that thousands of NDC members in the state had defected to the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But it was not clear what the expression, “selective ‘mnemonic’ dysfunction” meant, as Dr Okafor could not or did not explain its meaning in the context it was used. However, Dr. Okafor described the PDP as having been “comatose” in Enugu State since 2023, following what he regarded as the defection of its entire political structure to the APC.
He further accused the PDP of having lost its grassroots support in the state, attributing this to what he described as the high level of maladministration under its previous administration, which, he claimed, caused the widespread rejection of the party by the Enugu people.
The NDC secretary also questioned the reported size of the gathering organised by the PDP to receive its alleged new entrants, asking how the Dragon Event Centre, which he claimed could hardly accommodate 300 persons, could suddenly accommodate up to 6,000 people.
He described the conflicting figures contained in reports on the alleged defection as “politically curious,” adding that some reports cited 5,000, others 8,000 and others 10,000 new members. The discrepancies raise serious questions about the credibility of the claims and whether the event was, in fact, a genuine mass defection or simply a political gathering presented as one, according to Okafor.
He said: “Where are the names, wards and local government areas of these alleged defectors? If more than 5,000 NDC members actually abandoned the party, the PDP should have no difficulty producing a verifiable register. Political propaganda cannot replace evidence, and inflated figures cannot manufacture a political structure that does not exist.”
He challenged the PDP to publish details of the alleged more than 5,000 NDC members who joined the party, insisting that the available video footage from the event did not clearly establish the identity or number of persons allegedly received. Dr. Okafor maintained that the burden of proof rests with the PDP, particularly in view of the substantial differences in the figures being circulated.
He also asserted that the conflicting claims had turned what was expected to be a demonstration of political strength into a subject of public scrutiny, insisting that “numbers should be counted, identities should be established, and political claims should be backed by verifiable evidence.”
He further added that the party would not be distracted by what he described as “attempts to create an exaggerated impression of mass defections through unverified figures and carefully packaged political narratives”.
