Wike, reason Gov Mbah left PDP - Okey Ozoani

... As Ugo Agballa group insists on leadership of APC

A former State Youth Leader and ex- vice chairman Enugu West senatorial district of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okey Ozoani has allegedly that it was the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that drove the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, out of the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

This is coming on the heels of the declaration by members of the dissolved state executive committee, SEC, of the APC under the leadership of Barr Ugochukwu Agballah, to seek legal redress over their dissolution by the National Working Committee, NWC of the party.

Ozoani who spoke with newsmen in Enugu, on Saturday, said that since Mbah has left the PDP, him and other stakeholders of the party will now come back and rebuild the party, and urge true PDP members to remain resilient and calm as good things are coming, Ozoani

He said it was easy for the governor to dump PDP because he was never a pioneer member but joined in 2003 before he was appointed Chief of State to Gov Chimaroke Nnamani and later Commissioner for Finance, adding that even after leaving office in 2007, Mbah went to Lagos and never related with the party until he became governor in 2023 through the efforts of party members.

“Of course you know I’m the chairman of Enugu State PDP Stakeholders Forum, and if you follow our trajectory, we have been begging him (Gov mbah), Sir please don't leave. Whatever is the problem you don’t leave the party, you stay to build. If (Nyesom) Wike is the problem, we can go to Wike, Wike is not a spirit, he is not living in heaven, we can go to him and say please leave this governor for us, he is our governor, he is PDP governor.”

On his part, a former executive Chairman of Udi Local Government Area in the state, Engr Nick Ozonsi, expressed their resolve and that of other PDP members to remain in the party to rebuild it after Mbah's exit.

Engr Ozonsi, called for a serious reform of the Nigerian political system, saying, “What is wrong is what you cannot do in party A, how are you going to do it in party B?”

He added, “Nigerians should take the case of defections and the case of abandoning a party that nurtured them very seriously.”

It will be recalled that at its 179th meeting held on October 9, 2025, at the National Secretariat of the APC, the NWC dissolved the Enugu SEC and appointed a seven-man caretaker committee headed by a former state chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye.

Consequently, Governor Peter Mbah on Tuesday October 14, 2025, alongside members of his cabinet and 23 of the 24 State Assembly members, officially dumped PDP for APC, citing the unjust treatment of the South East by the PDP leadership.

In a recent statement, the aggrieved members of Ugochukwu Agballah-led dissolved SEC, vowed to contest their sack through constitutional means.

They stated that the APC Constitution (Articles 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, and specifically Article 21.3(VI)(D) vests disciplinary jurisdiction and first instance intervention in the Zonal Executive Committee (South-East) and contemplates that disciplinary recommendations be referred to the NEC.

They therefore declared that the NWC has no power to dissolve a State Executive Committee suomotu.

The SEC members maintained that the action of NWC "flagrantly contravenes the constitution" of the party and undermines the principles of fairness, equity, and due process.

"We therefore direct all organs of the APC in Enugu State, ward, local government, zonal, and state, to remain in their offices as duly elected officers and to continue discharging their constitutional responsibilities".