The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has said that the ruling party conquered the southeast with Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s coming into the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Southeast has fallen, and it has fallen into APC. So the man that comes will be the torch to lead the southeast to the national politics of Nigeria. It is my privilege to hand him over to you, sir,” Akpabio said while presenting Ubah to APC national chairman Dr Abdullahi Gaduje.
On his part, Ganduje said the party’s journey to capture the southeast geopolitical zone had begun with the defection of Senator Ubah, a member of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), into the ruling party.
He expressed worry that four different political parties governed the southeast, comprising five states., adding that such a scenario was not politically healthy for the zone.
He said the lawmaker’s defection would embolden APC, which currently controls two out of five states, to take over the remaining three states for political necessity.
“This is the biggest fish I have gotten. Marginalisation is controversial. Let’s see what is happening in the southeast. With the five states, three states are controlled by different political parties.
“We have PDP, LP, APGA and the remaining two APC. Now, a geopolitical zone with five states controlled by four political parties. Is this a sense of unity? Is this a sense of collective decision in order to participate in national politics? No.
“Now, we have started seeing the answer. We will start a revolution. Already, we have two states in the southeast, and with this man of timber and calibre, juggernaut, I think we have found the answer. Answer liberating the southeast geopolitical zone,” Ganduje said.
Ubah promised to deliver his constituency and beyond to the APC. He said he joined the ruling party because of President Bola Tinubu’s antecedents and political magnanimity.
Politics Nigeria had earlier reported that the YPP accused the APC of trying to foster a one-party state in Nigeria.
The party accused the APC of forcefully poaching Ubah and berated the senator for claiming there is a division within the YPP.