Chief Egwu Chima, a former Commissioner for Information and State Orientation in Ebonyi says Gov Dave Umahi’s defection from the PDP to APC would not add tonic to his new party.

Chima stated this in an interview on Wednesday in Abakaliki.

The former commissioner declared that the defection by the governor to APC would hurt the integrity of the party rather than reinvigorate and enhance its fortunes.

Gov. Umahi announced his defection to APC at a news conference on Tuesday in Abakaliki, ending months of speculations.

He said his defection was to protest against the injustice meted to the southeast by the PDP, the party he had supported since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.

Chima, a chieftain of the APC and one-time chairman of Afikpo South local Government Area, said, however, that Umahi’s mission in the APC was known only to him.

“While in the PDP, Umahi’s love for President Muhammadu Buhari was a sing-song though Buhari has lost every election in the governor’s polling unit, ward and local government. Now that he is in APC, we are going to win elections in these otherwise weak areas.

“With the governor now in our party, Ebonyi will be counted as an APC-controlled state and no longer in opposition,’’ Chima said.

The APC chieftain also told NAN that there was no leadership vacuum in Ebonyi APC and that Umahi’s claim that he would take over the leadership of the party in the state and reposition, it as a farce. (NAN)