The media was recently awash with news of Former Governor, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani’s defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), an unexpected outcome following reported panic in Governor Ugwuanyi’s Government House over the crystallizing 2019 electoral face-off against APC ‘s likely formidable Ayogu Eze/KGB Oguakwa Governorship Ticket.
Speaking to correspondents at the Enugu airport yesterday, after different closed-door parleys with APC chieftains, one led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, and another which held at the instance of Chief Jim Nwobodo, the Leader of the breakaway “Ebeano-APC”, Rt. Hon. Barrister KGB Oguakwa, a former two term Member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, confirmed Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani’s defection to the PDP describing it as an unexpected outcome from Gov Ugwuanyi’s desperate rapprochement through which Ugwuanyi sought unsuccessfully to remove the Ebeano structure from the APC equation in Enugu. Oguakwa said “ Chimaroke knew of every detail and supported our move to the APC”.
In an apparent reference to the refusal of a major block of the ebeano political structure to leave APC with Nnamani, Oguakwa described his block of teeming followers christiened “Ebeano-APC” as a reliable and major ally of President Muhammadu Buhari in Enugu State which will work assiduously with Director-General of the President’s Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, to achieve victory in 2019.
It will be recalled that Oguakwa was the strongest, most visible and most loyal supporter and protégée of Nnamani all through the latter’s political travails from 2007 till September 2018 when Nnamani suddenly defected, in a move which many across Nigeria have described as a needless stab in Oguakwa’s political back.
Addressing cheering Party faithful at an event in his traditional political turf of Enugu’s Greater Awgu area on Wednesday, hosted by the suave and flamboyant business man, billionaire philanthropist and APC Financier, Emperor Baywood Ibe, Oguakwa acknowledged Nnamani as a “still respected lifelong benefactor, associate and close friend” but restated very strongly that “I and my followers in Ebeano-APC have joined this “progressive coalition of the willing” to unseat Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and uplift the South East stake in Buhari’s Nigeria” vowing that, having been abandoned by Nnamani “we shall not return to Egypt”.
Chairman of the APC in Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye, speaking at the event, expressed delight at the resilience of Hon Oguakwa, describing him as a towering giant of solid character, hardwork and integrity. Nwoye who confirmed the unabated surge of entrants from Ebeano into the Party in all the 260 Wards in the State described Nnamani’s defection as “unexpected, ill-advised, ill-timed and ill-fated”.
KGB- all the way to Enugu Government house!
It will be interesting to see the outcome of this power play in Enugu State
KGB Oguakwa is a strong political strategist I have known since his days in the national assembly, His will be great on the Governorship ticket and a political asset to the APC in Enugu
Rt. Hon KGB Oguakwa is a humbe, dedicated, religious, active, dogged & sagacious politician with a vision.
NNAMANI’s FINAL ACT OF BETRAYAL:
I’d often been both amazed & amused at the loyalty shown Chimaroke for over a decade by Hon K.G.B. Ogukwa. Amazed, for the latter, being such a high quality persona, but amused, from the knowledge that Chimaroke, imbued with the same utter selfishness which he showed to and inflicted upon me, will end up betraying the only man who stands with him for good or for ill and Chimaroke has chosen to do this when it matters most. Yes my sympathies are with PDP Enugu and we welcome whatever bloated egotistic fillip which Chimaroke and his soiled putrid linen can offer us in 2019. Recall that K.G.B. is making superlative waves with the ebeano structure he recently led into the APC also making a viable play for a portion of the APC Enugu Governorship slot. The zero hesitation which Chimaroke has displayed in pushing his protégée under the bus, just to climb upon the carcass of that guy on his inordinate scamper to an elusive PDP Senatorial comfort is the final notch in his unmasking and will, by the grace of God, deconstruct this entire ebeano myopia, a ruse upon which a monumental plunder of Enugu was camouflaged. His day in courts haven’t yet come and gone. Chimaroke’s politico-economic calendar is approaching its requiem. My pal K.G.B.’s Star may yet rise, as another firmament beckons, well beyond Nnamani’s inglorious final betrayal. APC must not fail to snatch this chance and pick K.G.B. I must borrow Mathew Olusegun Okikiola Obasanjo GCFR’s philosophic jocular as I chuckle, saying “ I still dey laugh”. Mtcheew! -Nana Ogbodo, Enugu, Nigeria.
KGB is and will always be our man!