APC gains Enugu defectors as over 5,000 opposition members join the ruling party in a shocking political realignment ahead of the 2027 elections
APC gains Enugu defectors in what political observers are calling a major realignment ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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Over 5,000 members of the Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party, and All Progressives Grand Alliance on Monday dumped their parties to join the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State.
The dramatic mass defection took place at a rally in Aku town, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Nnaji, alongside key APC figures such as Enugu APC Chairman Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, House of Representatives member Sunday Umeha, and Raw Materials Research and Development Council Director General Prof Nnanyelugo Ike Muonso, formally received the new members.
Speaking at the event, Chief Nnaji declared that APC’s growing popularity reflected increasing appreciation of President Bola Tinubu’s projects in Enugu.
However, he expressed deep concern about what he described as “misapplication of resources and high taxation” under Governor Peter Mbah’s administration.
“Today in Enugu, we are facing a major economic quagmire,” Nnaji said.
“We are number two from the bottom as the most expensive city in Nigeria. Enugu is a civil service town, but still, we are the second most expensive city in Nigeria. What is the problem? It’s because of the type of tax the government has imposed on our people.”
He highlighted the plight of petty traders and hawkers. “A hawker, a small girl selling ordinary sachet water, pays between N300 and N500 every day. If you calculate it, he or she is paying over N100,000 a year,” he added.
“If that money is being properly utilised, our teeming young men, the youths and women will have free education, they will have good health facilities for our children, and they will have good infrastructure for the state.”
The minister praised Celestine Attah, a former House of Assembly candidate under APGA, for leading opposition members from APGA, LP, and PDP into the APC fold.
He assured the defectors of greater youth employment, improved infrastructure, and stronger federal presence in the state.
Nnaji was optimistic that the APC had now transformed into a viable political force in Enugu.
“The coming election will not be like the previous one because right now we have a party; before we didn’t have a party,” he said.
“APC before was a mercantile party, a party they used for trading in Enugu state, they used it to trade with PDP. But now all the moles who were trading with the party have been shown the way out.”
In his address, Chief Agballah commended President Tinubu for the dualisation of the long-neglected Ninth Mile – Opi – Makurdi road.
He said that federal infrastructure projects had finally reached the area after decades of neglect by previous administrations.
“For many years, under the governance of the party the people of Igbo-Etiti supported for 26 years, the entire local government was completely inaccessible due to the total collapse of road infrastructure,” Agballah noted.
“It was not until the emergence of Tinubu’s APC administration that they had ever voted for that we began to see any meaningful change.”
The event marks one of the most significant grassroots movements for the APC in Enugu State, with analysts saying it may reshape the political dynamics ahead of the next general elections.
The mood at the rally was optimistic, with supporters chanting pro-Tinubu slogans and waving APC flags.
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With more federal projects ongoing and increased outreach by the APC, party officials are confident that Monday’s rally signals a turning point in their quest to capture Enugu State in 2027.
