Reactions are trailing Wednesday’s switch of a political party by the incumbent Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Nkem Okeke, from the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in the state to the All Progressives Congress, APC, which is controlling government at the centre.
The Deputy Governor who is serving his second term in office was elected on the platform of APGA but dumped the party on Wednesday when he was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Some residents who spoke to reporters in Awka described Okeke’s move as a political blow on the incumbent Governor, Willie Obiano, and the ruling APGA in the state, with just weeks to the off circle governorship election.
For them, Okeke’s defection to the APC is an indication that all is not well in APGA.
But the State Commissioner for Information, CDon Adinuba, dismissed the worries, insisting that the defection of the Deputy Governor to APC has very minimal or no effect on the electoral power of the incumbent party, APGA, in the state.
Okeke, a former lecturer with Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, had been rumoured to be having a rift with his boss, Governor Obiano ever since winning a second term election in 2017.
It is unclear whether the Anambra State Deputy Governor who will now be flying the flag of the APC, instead of the APGA, will vacate office or stay put to face possible impeachment moves by the APGA controlled State House of Assembly.