A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has declared that Governor Peter Mbah’s anticipated defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC signifies the complete disappearance of the PDP from the Southeast political scene.
Governor Mbah is scheduled to officially join the APC on Tuesday, the 14th of October, 2025.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the 12th of October, Okechukwu described the development as a turning point in the region’s politics, stating that “the Southeast has finally bid farewell to the PDP.”
The former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) noted that Mbah’s defection was “pragmatic, rational, and inevitable,” portraying it as the closure of the PDP’s long dominance in the region, from controlling all five states in 1999 to losing every one of them by 2025.
Drawing from the words of the late Rt. Hon. Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, who once said that the PDP “pays good deeds with bad coins,” Okechukwu argued that Mbah’s move proves that statement right. He recalled how Okadigbo was allegedly betrayed during the 1999 Jos presidential primary and how the Southeast failed to unite behind the Buhari/Okadigbo ticket in the 2003 election.
He accused the PDP of ignoring fairness and equity, citing the 2023 presidential primary as a clear example where “no southern aspirant was allowed to contest” despite calls for power rotation.
“The last straw that broke the PDP’s camel’s back,” Okechukwu said, “was the marginalisation of the Southeast during the dispute over the National Secretary position.”
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He referred to a communiqué issued by the PDP Southeast Zonal Executive Committee on May 14, 2023, warning that the zone would review its ties with the party if Sunday Udeh-Okoye was not confirmed as National Secretary after Senator Samuel Anyanwu left to run for the Imo governorship seat.
Okechukwu also recalled the statement by former Senate President and PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, who decried the PDP’s persistent neglect of the Southeast despite its consistent loyalty.
According to him, the PDP’s repeated acts of betrayal and disregard for the region validate Mbah’s decision.
“Governor Mbah’s exit is not an isolated event,” Okechukwu said. “It represents the final chapter in the Southeast’s disillusionment with a party that failed to reward faithfulness, fairness, and friendship.”