Emeka Ihedioha, the former governor of Imo State, asserted that the departure of members from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State following his exit from the party is indicative of their trust in his leadership.
He explained his decision to leave the PDP stemmed from his supporters’ desire for him to spearhead change and reconstruction in Imo State.
Ihedioha expressed disillusionment with the PDP’s national and state-level prospects, criticizing the party’s leadership for being unresponsive to necessary reforms.
He highlighted the decline in public perception of the PDP’s ability to govern and cited the party’s poor performance in recent elections as evidence.
Ihedioha emphasised that his departure from the PDP was influenced by the wishes of his extensive support base and followers who believed the party had lost its direction.
He said, “It was bound to happen. So far the tendencies operating in the party remained there, for quite some time, the warning shots were very clear, just before the election, yes there were issues, but it makes sense that we get into the election convinced to regain power at the federal level and a number of states.
But of course, several things happened, and after the election, the issues came to the fore.
“We called for the need to address those issues, but rather than address those issues and a barrage of demand what we saw was a further drift to the desires of the people, which is very inconsistent with the mission and vision of the founding fathers of our party, which I would say, I had the privilege of being a founding member right back in 1998, then in my capacity as the director of the publicity of PDP.
To see your party grow and now get to this descent, and continue on that part of an undesirable descent, might derail you as a person and then the intention and of course your large followership.
So I acted essentially based on the desires of my large followership and my support base back at home and nationally who felt the party had lost its bearing and there was a need for us to forge ahead.
“PDP had stopped presenting itself as a party that could eventually form government by their recent actions. It was obvious, that Nigerians no longer perceived them as a party that could take over government at the national or state levels, politics is perception.
In the last governorship election in the state, which was our most dismal, PDP did not win one single LGA in Imo State; when I ran for office in 2019, we didn’t have one single member in the House of Assembly, but I led the party to victory, we won thirteen seats in the assembly…and won the governorship election with close to 100,000 votes difference with the major opponent. In 2023 we saw abysmal performance and nothing was being done to remedy the situation of the party.”
He criticized the party’s leadership for being resistant to constructive feedback aimed at restoring the party’s credibility.
Furthermore, Ihedioha noted that his resignation prompted a significant number of influential figures within the party to follow suit, viewing it as a vote of confidence in his leadership and their collective aspiration for a platform conducive to progress and unity.
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Among those who left the party were former governors, deputy governors, former ministers, members of the House of Representatives, senatorial candidates, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, and other politically active individuals.
