Udeh-Okoye: Damagum, Anyanwu came to bury PDP… another south-east state will soon join APC

Sunday Udeh-Okoye, former youth leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says another south-east state is on the verge of joining the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Udeh-Okoye, who spoke Tuesday during an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television programme, said the main opposition party has lost its “moral compass”.

On Monday, he announced his exit from the PDP in a letter dated October 13 and addressed to the party’s ward chairman in Agbogugu, Awgu LGA of Enugu.

His comment followed the defection of Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, and other PDP leaders in the state to the APC.

He said the recent wave of defections was not about destroying the opposition but a response to “leadership and management failure” within the PDP.

“Just wait and see; very soon, another state will fall in the south-east to the APC,” he said.

Udeh-Okoye, who declined to name the state, said the APC’s expansion in the region is unstoppable.

He also dismissed speculation that defectors were offered financial incentives to join the APC.

“How can APC threaten us?” he asked.

“APC is not offering us anything other than good management. Forget about money—we are not poor or beggars.”

Udeh-Okoye said the PDP’s collapse in Enugu was the result of years of poor leadership and internal wrangling.

“PDP is not only dead; what you now have in Enugu, if it still exists at all, is a carcass,” he said.

“The only party that is alive in Enugu today is APC.”

Udeh-Okoye blamed the PDP’s decline on its top national officials, whom he described as “undertakers”.

“Umar Damagum, Samuel Anyanwu, and Umar Bature didn’t come to grow the party; they came to bury it,” he added.

The south-east consists of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states. Currently, the APC controls Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu. Anambra is led by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), while the Labour Party (LP) governs Abia.

Udeh-Okoye was a member of the Enugu state house of assembly from 2011 to 2017 and also served as the PDP national youth leader from 2017 to 2021.