BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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KEN Nnamani, a former Senate president, on Sunday, January 22, formally joined the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
A chairman of the Electoral Reform Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari, Nnamani formally registered as a member of the APC at Amechi-Uwani, his hometown in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State on the day.
The former Senate president did the registration at the beginning of the party’s re-registration exercise in Enugu State and other parts of the South-East.
Nnamani’s registration was witnessed by some leaders of the party in the zone, including Emma Eneukwu, vice chairman, APC South-East; Osita Okechukwu, director-general, Voice of Nigeria; Ben Nwoye, chairman, Enugu State chapter of the party, and Tony Ibeabuchi, chairman of the registration committee, among others.
Addressing the gathering of APC members who witnessed the event, Nnamani said he was joining the ‘winners’, adding that he would not mind if his action was interpreted as ‘opportunism’.
Nnamani said that he joined the APC because of intense demand from his constituents.
Nnamani, who led the Senate from 2005 to 2007 as a member of the PDP quoted Tip O’Neil, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives to support his argument for joining the APC.
“All politics is local. I have to do what my constituents demanded by joining the APC at ward level,” he said.
Nnamani, who had been a member of the PDP since it was founded in 1998 until February 2016, when he severed his relationship with the party, said at the time: “I do not believe I should continue to be a member of the PDP as it is defined today,” adding: “This is certainly not the party I joined years ago to help change my country.”
“I like to identify with potential winners, if that makes me an opportunist, so be it,” Nnamani said about the APC.
The former Senate president said it was a thing of joy for him to join “those who have kept the flag of the APC flying.”
He, however, promised to make his reasons for joining the APC known during a public declaration, which is planned for a later date.
That notwithstanding, he also observed that the APC was not perfect as he said: “In the politics of our nation, if you look carefully and read between the lines, you will not ask somebody who is on his way back from the market to buy something for you, such a person will not get anything for you; but if you ask somebody who is on his way to the market to buy something for you, he is more likely to get it for you.
“I noticed that the APC has all it takes, but it is not perfect yet. We will join hands to make it near perfect.”
Nnamani said his decision to join the APC was informed by his conscience, saying, “Many people will criticise me that I am abandoning a party that helped me to attain a high level politically. February 6, 2016, was the day I left the PDP and went into political sabbatical.
“Our constitution does not allow independent candidates; so, I cannot remain ‘partyless’.
“Now that change is going on in the country, one cannot remain rigid.”
In any case, Nnamani urged members of the APC to encourage others to join their fold.
In October 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari named him the chairman of the electoral reform committee.
Nwoye in his statement said the occasion was the party’s proudest moment in the South-East. “Today is the proudest moment of the APC in Igboland; today, that dream of ‘change’ begins to manifest in the South-East,” he said.
— Jan 23, 2017 @ 13:45 GMT
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