Defection: Collapse Of Obidient Movement Attributed To LP’s Woes In Enugu North

The failure of Enugu State House of Assembly lawmakers elected on the platform of the Labour Party to uphold the ideology of the Obedient Movement is behind the looming mass defection of LP members from Enugu North Senatorial Zone to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

THE WHISTLER reported that hundreds of LP members from Udenu and Uzo-Uwani LGAs of Enugu State decamped to APC last Saturday. Other LGAs that make up Enugu North are Nsukka, Igbo-Etiti, Igboeze North, Igboeze South.

Throwing more lights on the development, Chief Philip Chika Ugwuonah, one of those that decamped to APC, Tuesday, said the option of APC was because the ruling party had an ideology.

According to him, “The Obedient Movement was an ideology which Enugu LP state Assembly lawmakers failed to sustain. That is why most of them defected to the Peoples Democratic Party. LP is no longer stable. There are also many legal tussles at the national level. PDP has the same instability. We have decided to move to the centre.
“We are on a mission. Every politician has interests, but ours is not selfish. We are disappointed with those we elected. They made Enugu Assembly a PDP affair instead of being a formidable opposition which would have been the beauty of democracy in the state.
“The defection is just the beginning. LP was the majority in the Assembly, but suddenly some of LP Assembly members decamped to PDP to make LP minority.”

A staunch member of PDP and former council chairman, Udi LGA, Engr Nick Ozonsi, however, advised defecting LP members to join the ruling PDP, arguing that Gov Peter Mbah has proven to be result-oriented in governing the state.
Uzonsi said, “The Obidient Movement is dead, but LP is alive. LP members should join PDP, which is the governor’s party. It will be a good thing if LP’s guber candidate in Enugu State, Hon Chijioke Edeoga, joins PDP to help in stabilising the party, instead of APC. He understands the game very well. What happened in 2023 will not happen again in 2027. Even Mr Peter Obi is trying to form alliances with other parties. The centre of LP can no longer hold.

“You don’t expect Gov Peter Mbah to fold his hands and watch the transition to his second tenure threatened. I beg everybody to join PDP because Mbah is performing. What informs defection is when a governor is under-performing, which is not the case in today’s Enugu. He is breaking records of thirty years. He is revitalising abandoned public infrastructure. Those things that chased people out of PDP are being redressed by Mbah. There should be continuity. The state economy is coming up.”