By Akinwale Kasali
His resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was long expected. It was not a question of if former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Rt Honourable Emeka Ihedioha will dump the Party, it was a question of when. The when Finally came on Tuesday, April 23. On that day, Ihedioha, a former Governor of Imo State, whose tenure in 2019 was cut short by the Supreme Court which sacked finally quit.
The seed to his dumping the Party was sown in 2023 when he and the National Secretary of the PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Sam Daddy, engaged each other in a battle for supremacy.
Ihedioha rightly wanted to fly the Governorship flag of the Party again. But Anyanwu, who had squared off with him in 2019, and fought to the Supreme Court declared interest. That fictionalised the party and weakened Ihedioha’s base. Yet, he had an upper hand as the State Executive Council was loyal to him.
But finally, Ihedioha withdrew interest and Anyanwu, who picked the ticket had a disastrous outing.
When Ihedioha withdrew from the race, it had a run on the State PDP. One day, in one fell swoop seven members of the SEC quit, joined the All Progressives Congress, APC, and pledged loyalty to Governor Hope Uzodimma.
From that period, Ihedioha literally gave the Party a some space. When in the past few weeks pressures began to mount on him to quit the Party, not a few people felt Ihedioha was behind it.
However, all that has become history as
Ihedioha has now announced his resignation from the PDP.
In his resignation letter addressed to the leadership of the PDP from the Ward, Local Government, State and the National Headquarters, dated April 23rd, which he personally signed, Ihedioha wrote:
“Since 1998, I have contributed my quota to the development and transformation of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as one of the founding members. All these years, I have taken pride in the fact that the PDP is a party that will always look inward for internal reforms and provide credible leadership for the people, whether in power or outside power. I have had the benefit of serving and benefitting from the party at various levels.
“Regrettably, in recent times, the party has taken on a path that is at variance with my personal beliefs. Despite my attempts to offer counsel, the party is sadly no longer able to carry out internal reforms, enforce its own rules or offer credible opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
“It is in the light of the foregoing, that I am compelled to offer my resignation from the People’s Democratic Party effective immediately. While this decision was difficult to take, I, however, believe that it is the right one.
Despite this resignation, I will always be available to offer my services towards the deepening of democracy and good governance in Nigeria.”
