Politics
2023: PDP Returnee Collapses APC Structure For Ugwuanyi
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Mr. Evans Ikpechukwu Omeje, who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2017, has formally returned to the PDP.
He vied for the seat of Nsukka East Constituency in the State House of Assembly in 2019, as APC candidate.
Mr. Omeje, who is from Ede-Ukwu Ward, Ede-Oballa in Nsukka Local Government Area of the State, announced his return to the PDP amid jubilation, at the Ede-Ukwu Ward office of the PDP, on Wedbesday, where he addressed the ward executives and other stakeholders of the party.
Describing the PDP as “my mother party”, Mr. Omeje disclosed that he rejoined the PDP because of the peace and good governance initiatives of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and the quest to join hands with the adherents of the governor’s focused and people-oriented administration to strengthen his leadership trajectory in the state and the party, ahead of 2023 general elections.
He added that his decision to return to the PDP was also borne out of his desire to support and join forces with the leadership of the party in Ede-Ukwu Ward, Ede-Oballa community and Nsukka Local Government Area, to ensure that the governor’s political directions in respect of 2023 general elections, are accomplished to the letter.
The former APC chieftain explained that he left the PDP earlier with hundreds of his teeming supporters because of the way the past leadership of the ward treated them, stressing that “now that the person in question, a Commissioner then, who came and scattered some of us, has left to join a group working against the interest of our governor, the PDP, Nsukka people and Ndi Enugu, I have returned with my followers to help mobilize and strengthen the PDP in this ward, Ede-Oballa community, Nsukka LGA and Enugu State in general”.
Mr. Omeje, who was re-registered as a member of PDP Ede-Ukwu Ward, and re-issued the party membership card, announced that he has collapsed his APC structure to PDP, declaring their unflinching support and loyalty to the state leadership under Governor. Ugwuanyi.
The returnee equally pledged loyalty to the State Chairman of the PDP, Hon. Augustine Nnamani, PDP leader in Enugu North Senatorial Zone, Chief Engr. Vita Abba, the Chairman of Nsukka LGA, Hon. Barr. Walter Ozioko, and the leadership of the party in Nsukka LGA and Ede-Ukwu Ward.
His words: “Let me assure our governor who is the leader of the PDP in the state and South East that all those who left, we will bring them back to the PDP, including others who were aggrieved because of our erring brother who has gone to join a politician from another senatorial zone to challenge our brother and our governor.
“We will bring them back, so that the PDP will be one in Ede-Ukwu Ward and Nsukka LGA. I am saying that all these people have agreed to follow Gburugburu (Ugwuanyi) because he is our leader.
“I thank my people who held the PDP up till today because it is not easy. All the things that went wrong, which the present leadership of the ward is correcting, we will assist in correcting them so that everybody will be one; so that PDP will be one in Ede-Ukwu Ward; so that we will all follow Gburugburu in actualizing his mission”.
Receiving the returnee and some of his followers, the Chairman of Ede-Ukwu Ward, Solomon Asogwa, on behalf of the ward, appreciated God who he said “brought our son, our brother and our father, Mr. Ikpechukwu Omeje back to our great Party, PDP”.
Asogwa said that it was a thing of joy that “this great man returned to the PDP”, adding that he worked hard for the party in the past and was a strong opposition to the PDP when he was in APC “but PDP still conquered them”.
“So now he is back to PDP, PDP will still conquer ahead, ahead.’’
The 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, says he would not help President Bola Tinubu’s administration to correct the administration’s policies affecting the citizens.
Emir Sanusi spoke on Wednesday in Lagos as the chairman of the 21st Anniversary of Fawehinmiism (Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture 2025).
The emir stated that while there were “a few points” he could offer to explain the trajectory the administration had taken and how such decisions were predictable, he chose not to do so because “they don’t behave like friends.”
He said explaining the government’s policies would help the government, but he did not intend to assist them due to the way they had treated him.
“I can give a few points that are contrary, that explain perhaps what we’re going through and how it was totally predictable, most of it, and maybe avoidable. But I am not going to do that.
“I have chosen not to speak about the economy or the reforms or to even explain anything because if I explain, it would help this government, but I don’t want to help this government,” the emir said while addressing some of the points made by speakers about the economy.
He added: “You know they’re my friends, but if they don’t behave like friends, I don’t behave like a friend. So I watch them being stooges. And they don’t even have people with credibility who can come and explain what they are doing. I am not going to help. I started out helping, but I am not going to help. I am not going to discuss it. Let them come and explain to Nigerians why the policies that are being pursued are being pursued.
“Meanwhile, I’m watching a very nice movie with popcorn in my hands. But I will say one thing: What we are going through today is, at least in part, not totally, but at least in part, a necessary consequence of decades of irresponsible economic management.
“People were told decades ago that if you continue along this path, this is where you’re going to end up, and they refused to open their eyes. Now, is everything being done today correct? No.”
Emir Sanusi, who was deposed as the 14th Emir of Kano in 2020 by then-Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the current national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was reinstated as the 16th Emir of Kano in 2024 by the New Nigeria People’s Party-led Kano State Government.
His emirship has faced ongoing challenges from forces believed to be backed by the federal government, including federal officials’ continued recognition of his predecessor, Emir Aminu Ado Bayero.
Last month, the police barricaded his palace, with the state government accusing the federal government of orchestrating the action to stir unrest in the peaceful state.
The Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Oriyomi Onanuga, is dead.
Also known as Ijaya, Rt Hon. Onanuga, who was the member representing Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo North Federal Constituency, is said to have died following a brief illness.
This was confirmed in a tweet on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday night.
Rt Hon Onanuga, who was born in Hammersmith, London, to Nigerian parents on December 2, 1965, was a politician and entrepreneur. She held the position of Deputy Chief Whip in the Nigerian House of Representatives since 2023.
She contested and won a seat in the House of Representatives under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019. She also served as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development.
Gov. Aiyedatiwa, however, exempted two members of the cabinet from the dissolution due to the critical nature of their duties.
The two commissioners exempted include the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Kayode Ajulo, SAN, and the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Omowunmi Isaac.
This was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Mr Adeniyan said in the statement that “All the affected cabinet members are to hand over all government properties in their care to the accounting officers of their respective ministries.
Gov. Aiyedatiwa thanked the executive council members “for their service and contributions to the development of Ondo State under his administration and wished them well in their future endeavours”.