By Tony Adibe
The former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, and foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Osita Ikechukwu, has said that the apparent exit of Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah, from the Peoples Democratic Party was an indication that the SouthEast Zone has finally bidden goodbye to the party.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr. Okechukwu said that Governor Mbah’s expected departure from PDP would be a “defining political moment” and a clear indication that the Southeast geopolitical zone has finally said goodbye to the PDP.
NewsBits reports that the SouthEast Zone was dominated by the PDP since 1999, though with the irregular political movements of some politicians in the region dumping it.
However, Okechukwu, while reacting to the much-touted Governor Mbah’s defection from the PDP to the APC, described it as “a pragmatic, rational, and inevitable decision”, symbolizing the total collapse of PDP’s dominance in the Southeast — from controlling all five state governments in 1999 to having zero governors in 2025.
Mr. Osita Ikechukwu
He recalled the timeless lamentation of the late Rt. Hon. Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, who once warned that the PDP “pays good deeds with bad coins.”
Okechukwu argued that Governor Mbah’s exit “vindicates that lamentation”, adding that Okadigbo’s experience — from the 1999 Jos presidential primary where the former Vice President and PDP co-founder was sabotaged, to the 2003 election where Ndigbo naively ignored the Buhari/Okadigbo ticket — remains a historic lesson.
The APC Chieftain also lampooned the PDP’s “utter disregard” for equity and justice, especially in 2023, when the party breached the Fourth Republic’s long-standing zoning convention.
He recalled vividly that at the Port Harcourt presidential primary, no southern aspirant participated, despite repeated appeals for fairness and rotation.
“The last straw that broke the PDP’s camel’s back,” Okechukwu said, “was the deliberate marginalization of the Southeast during the controversy over the National Secretary position.”
He cited the communiqué issued by the PDP South East Zonal Executive Committee (ZEC) after its meeting at Government House, Enugu, on May 14, 2023, which warned: “In the event that the Southeast’s position that Sunday Udeh-Okoye should replace Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who left to contest the Imo governorship election, is not implemented promptly, the Southeast PDP, as a family, will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with the PDP going forward.”
Okechukwu also referenced remarks by former Senate President and PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, who “decried the continued trampling of the Southeast PDP despite the region’s unwavering loyalty to the party since 1998.”
The politician insisted that the PDP’s “serial betrayal, neglect, and abuse of the Southeast were sufficient grounds” for Governor Mbah’s long-anticipated defection.
“Governor Mbah’s exit,” he declared, “is not an isolated event — it is the final chapter in the Southeast’s disillusionment with a party that failed to reward faithfulness, fairness, and friendship.”
