Chief Nkem Okoro, the factional Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in Abia along with State Working Committee, on Tuesday joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Okoro said that the movement also included factional executive committees at the 17 local government and 184 ward levels in the state.
He described their cross carpeting to APC as “a Tsunami of political realignment with the biggest and most progressive political party in Nigeria.
“This decision was taken after wide consultation with our supporters at all levels, who are in agreement that APC represents a progressives platform with the ideals and vision required to end misgovernance in Abia.
“Our decision to join APC became more cogent and expedient, after the leader of APGA in Abia and a respected Abia son, Dr Alex Otti, joined APC with thousands of APGA supporters recently.
“Today, we have trooped out here with the progressive zeal, passion and commitment to wholeheartedly join the APC with the desire to selflessly support the vision of the party aimed at ensuring that the Abia of our collective dream is achieved.
“As leaders of APGA at all levels, we showed hard work and commitment, devoid of compromise in leading our party men and women.
“Therefore, today, we want to assure you that we shall deploy same virtues of commitment and sincerity as APC members to passionately work for the growth and expansion of Abia APC at all levels.
“What we are doing here today marks the end of our journey in APGA, thus we are joining the Abia APC with our spirits and souls, and with the determination to make people-oriented sacrifices aimed at taking the APC to an enviable height.”
Okoro said that he and others cross carpeting “are determined to align with the APC state Chairman, his officers and other men and women of goodwill to ensure that APC vision in Abia will be achieved for the good of our people.
“We know that the constitution and ideologies of APC attach so much priority to discipline, loyalty and supremacy of the party over every individual.
“Therefore, we are excited because our track record of commitment, discipline and loyalty would make it easier for us to quickly integrate and be part of the big APC family,” he said.
Receiving the new members at the APC state Secretariat in Umuahia, the Chairman, Chief Donatus Nwankpa, assured them of a level playing ground, saying: “We do not have room for discrimination.
“We should not discriminate between the old and new members. This is no time to struggle for party positions.
“We want to take the party to the next level and we can only achieve it by taking over the government of Abia in 2023.”
Nwankpa also spoke on the agitation for the next Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, saying that “the South-East is ready to produce the next president of Nigeria.
“We have the population because after the population of the natives in any part of Nigeria, the next highest population are people of the southeast,” he said.
Also, the Zonal Vice Chairman of APC, Chief Emma Enukwu, commended the new members for their decision and assured them of justice and internal democracy in APC.
Enukwu said that their action would help to reinforce the strength of APC in the 2023 polls in Abia.
He said that the party had garnered experience from its failed attempts in the last two elections to produce the Abia governor and hoped that the situation would change positively in 2023.
He therefore called for unity in the party and oneness of purpose for the party to produce the next Abia governor and representatives at the National and State Assemblies.
He decried the poor state of infrastructure in Abia, saying that the state was trailing behind other southeast states in terms of infrastructure development.
Enukwu urged the southeast to encourage President Muhammadu Buhari “to continue with his good performance in the zone” by supporting his administration.
He said that Buhari had done far better than past administrations in project execution in the zone.
He cited the refurbished Akanu Ibiam International Airport, the ongoing construction of the second Niger Bridge and reconstruction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway to buttress his point. (NAN)
