The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Obiora Ifoh, has revealed that the defection of the senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has no threat to their party.
The spokesman remained positive that the LP gubernatorial candidate, Senator Athan Achonu, would win over Governor Hope Uzodimma ahead of the November 11 governorship election.
Senator Ubah switched allegiance from the Young Progressive Party to the ruling APC.
The news of Ubah’s defection spread like wildfire after it was publicly read in the Senate Chamber on Thursday.
The senator, who had been elected for a second term under the YPP in the previous elections, according to the letter, explained that he switched parties because of the disagreements within his former party.
Ubah’s defection increases the number of APC senators to 60.
While receiving him at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, described the senator as a ‘big fish’ with enormous political clout in Anambra politics.
The former Kano State governor also expressed strong conviction that his defection to the ruling party would herald a wind of revolution that will liberate the South-East.
But Ifoh kicked against Ganduje’s declaration, insisting that Ubah jumped ship to brighten the chances of pursuing his Anambra governorship ambition.
This was even as he argued that the APC had little or no serious presence in the South-East.
He said, “Don’t get it wrong. Ifeanyi Ubah is from Anambra State and I can tell you that he defected because of his governorship ambition which he can never get with the ticket of YPP. So, he needed a party that has a Federal Government support to be able to ride the crest.
“I am saying the APC is non-existent anywhere in the South-East. Let me repeat it again. The LP is the South-East party, not the APC. That also showed during the 2023 general elections.
“For the first time the LP contested fully, they won virtually every position in the South-East, with the exception of the areas they were rigged out.”
