…As Bode George Dismisses Mbah’s Defection
Former National Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Udeh-Okoye, has declared that the PDP “is dead” in Enugu State following Governor Peter Mbah’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on Channels Television Politics Today on Tuesday, Udeh-Okoye said the governor’s defection marked a complete collapse of the PDP structure in the state, insisting that almost every major political actor had joined the APC.
“The PDP is dead. What you have left is a carcass,” he said, claiming that local government chairmen, state and National Assembly members, commissioners, and even former members of the party’s National Working Committee had all defected.
He said his own defection to the APC on Monday was not motivated by money but by the party’s “good management” and “inclusive leadership” under President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, Tinubu has shown fairness to all parts of the country unlike former President Muhammadu Buhari, who, he said, alienated some regions through his divisive 97%-5% remark.
Udeh-Okoye accused the PDP’s current leadership of destroying the opposition through arrogance and incompetence. He described Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, National Organising Secretary Umar Bature, and Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade as “undertakers” who had “buried the PDP.”
“These are people who cannot win their polling booths. They did not come to grow the PDP; they came to bury it,” he said.
The former youth leader also praised Governor Mbah’s performance, citing the completion of the Enugu International Conference Centre and the establishment of a state airline as evidence of his achievements.
He said the governor’s record had earned him overwhelming support and shifted the political base of the state to the APC.
“Enugu is not PDP; Enugu is people. And the people have moved to APC,” he said.
However, the PDP Board of Trustees member and former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Bode George, dismissed the defections as insignificant and insisted that the PDP remains strong.
Speaking on the same programme, George described the party as “an Iroko tree” that cannot be easily uprooted despite the storm it is facing.
“Governors alone don’t make a party. The people make the party. Those who left will see. This is not the first time people have run away, they will come back,” George said.
He said the defections were disappointing but would not destroy the PDP, which, according to him, remains the only truly national political platform with deep grassroots structures across the country. George also criticised defectors who claimed the APC was more stable, saying the ruling party operates like “a private enterprise.”
“APC is a private business. The president himself said he owns the party. Why should any democrat be comfortable in such an arrangement?” he said, adding that he would never join a party where one man dictates all decisions.
George acknowledged the recent internal crisis in the PDP but urged members to remain calm. He said the leadership issues would be resolved ahead of the party’s national convention in Ibadan on November 16, which he described as an opportunity to “put the house in order.”
He also took aim at the APC-led government, saying Nigerians were enduring economic hardship under its policies.
“What has the APC done to put smiles on people’s faces? Hunger, debt, and hopelessness, that’s their record,” he said.
While Udeh-Okoye maintained that Enugu’s political loyalty had shifted permanently to the APC, George insisted that the PDP would bounce back.
“The Iroko doesn’t die; its roots are deep,” said George.
