By NewsCritic Reporters
Until his recent defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly Rt Hon Chinedum Orji was arguably one of the most influential members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He boasts of an enviable political credential while in the PDP, winning elections twice into the state house of assembly, and getting elected first as a principal officer of the house and then, ultimately as the speaker.
While he held sway as a PDP member, Engr Chinedum Orji helped the party win elections, and also has to his credit the honour of working tremendously to deliver the party’s governorship candidates, especially during the pre-2023 elections in the state, where he also sponsored a good number of candidates for the assembly elections.
He promotes a political ideology that caters for the welfare of the citizenry, and he has demonstrated his political belief by reaching out to the youths, indigent and less privileged members of the Nigerian political ecosystem through his various empowerment and infrastructural development programmes.
Today, the Abia PDP has lost the primacy of Chindum Orji’s presence in the party which they hitherto enjoyed due to the intransigence of the party’s leadership and bastardization of the party’s zoning formula in the run up to the 2023 General Election. The PDP’s loss remains the APC’s gain, and in politics realignments and alliances are integral parts of the political dynamics both at the state and national level.
The signs that the new joiners in the APC led by Chinedum Orji are going to impact on the party’s cohesion and performance can be gleaned from the excitements and reactions that trailed his declaration, with some APC stakeholders praising him for the sacrifices he made in the PDP while hopeful that he will replicate same in the APC to strengthen the party in Abia State.
Engr Chinedum Orji dubbed Ikuku Oma Abia by his numerous followers and fans alike spoke in this line during his registration with the APC when he said that before and after the General Election, the PDP engaged in activities which were detrimental to the peace, progress and cohesion of the party leading to electoral losses.
He said that expectations of possible review of the party’s performance and initiating a reconciliation process were not accomplished, adding that ‘these hopes were not met’.
At any rate, the entry of Engr Orji into the APC has continued to elicit widespread excitements within the party hierarchy, as majority of the stakeholders express their enthusiasm over his movement into the party. Many of them are buoyed by the fact that the APC can now boast of a formidable and dependable political figure in the Abia Central senatorial district, who will help the party gain strong foothold in the area.
Hon. Chief Okey Ezeala, State Publicity Secretary of APC Abia State is among those who believes that Engr Orji’s entry into the party will make it to grow, and become stronger in the state given his (Orji’s) political antecedents.
He said that despite the misconceptions some people might hold about him due to misinformation in a section of the media, Hon Ezeala insists that Rt Hon Orji joining APC is a big win for the party that is worth celebrating.
The APC Publicity Secretary described the former Abia Speaker as a humble, easy going and jolly good politician who may have been judged wrongly by adversaries, while pointing out that Orji has come to support the policies and programmes of the President Bola Tinubu led government, as well as to give a lot of impetus to APC.
One of the APC stakeholders in Ohuhu, Aguocha Chinecherem Jerry spoke glowingly of Engr Orji’s movement to APC, saying that it’s a welcome development. He stressed that with the likes of Ikuku and Obinna Nwosu in the party, that the APC is going to see the light, while accusing some old members of anti-party activities.
