Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party have started reaching out to the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, in a bid to stop his defection from the party, our correspondent has gathered.
A party source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue, confided in our correspondent, in Abakalike on Wednesday that the PDP hierarchy, including the Board of Trustees and its Governors Forum, had made informal representations to the governor.
It was learnt that the PDP governors who held a virtual meeting with Umahi on Monday, appealed to him not to dump the party.
There were speculations that the governor and legislators in the state assembly were planning to defect from the PDP to join the All Progressives Congress.
Umahi has neither confirmed or denied these speculations since news of his imminent defection surfaced on Saturday, October 17, 2020. The governor was said to have met severally with leaders of the APC including President Muhammadu Buhari to fine tune his move.
A source privy to the development, said, “He won’t remain in a party that has no future for the South-East”, hence his plan to ditch the PDP.
The state assembly and the state chapter of the PDP had given the PDP national leadership a seven-day ultimatum to hold a National Executive Council meeting and zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the South East or be prepared for what was to follow.
When contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbodiyan, again said the matter had not reached his office.