A former national auditor and member of the national working committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Ray Nnaji, has warned Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State that his planned defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) would be a “political suicide”.
SaharaReporters gathered on Friday that Governor Mbah has been secretly funding certain disgruntled members of the APC who have repeatedly issued media statements urging him to defect to the ruling party.
Sources close to the governor have disclosed that he has already informed members of the Enugu State National Assembly of his imminent move to the APC.
However, Nnaji cautioned Governor Mbah against the defection, warning that it would not be easy for him to wrest control of the APC structure, which has long been organised and consolidated by others.
“It would be political suicide for Governor Peter Mbah to defect to APC,” Nnaji said. “He is a pretender because he is in PDP, but his soul is in APC.”
“His defection will be political suicide because there’s someone on the ground that he is going to battle with. Secondly, he is not on the ground. Even if he carries some people to the APC, most of them will sabotage him when the chips are down,” he said.
“And thirdly, he doesn’t know the game. Even with all the money, it will not do everything for him because he will be disappointed. Is it not human beings that you will use? Will he be everywhere? He will be in one spot and rely on people to do it for him,” he maintained.
Nnaji, a former local government chairman and commissioner, expressed doubts about Governor Mbah’s chances of success in the APC, citing the governor’s lack of grassroots support and his inability to manage the PDP effectively.
“He has not organised the PDP, held it, and done what he ought to have done as a leader of the party in the state and South East as a whole,” Nnaji said.
The former PDP chieftain also challenged Governor Mbah’s record in office, noting that most of his projects are executed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements, which he argued amount to mortgaging the state’s future.
“All those things that he is doing, is it not under PPP arrangement? Mortgaging the future of this state – when you finish building, you will give it out for 30 years,” Nnaji said.
Nnaji further highlighted the challenges Governor Mbah would face in the APC, including the presence of someone on the ground who has been organizing the party and would likely pose a challenge to the governor.
“There is someone on the ground that he is going to battle with. Secondly, he is not on the ground. Even if he carries some people to APC, most of them will sabotage him when the chips are down. And thirdly, he doesn’t know the game,” Nnaji said.
“I know quite well that Chief Uche Nnaji, Honorable Minister for Science, Technology, and Innovation, is there in APC and has been organising the APC, so let him run to APC. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know the game. He will meet someone who knows the game better than him.”
He said, “He will find out that being the governor will not make it easy for him to get the ticket. If he thinks he wants to replicate what David Umahi did in Ebonyi, he should know that the gap between him and David Umahi is so wide that it’s like the distance between Lagos and Maiduguri.
“David Umahi was a former Chairman of the party, former deputy governor before governor, and before defecting, he had emerged for the second term. It was during his second term that he decamped to APC. He didn’t do it after his first term.
“And the achievement of David Umahi in Ebonyi cannot be compared to what our governor has done. David Umahi was on the ground, and our governor is not on the ground; that is the difference.”
Nnaji also criticised Mbah’s tax policy, saying it has been burdensome on the people, especially women in rural areas.
“A woman in a rural village is suffering from his tax policy – a woman in a rural village that has only a few things to sell and make a living is suffering from his excessive tax policy with destructive achievement without compensation,” he said.