‘Hard Times Await S’East PDP Defectors’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-East will henceforth make it difficult and impossible if necessary for any of its members who defected to other parties to rejoin it.

The party’s National Vice-Chairman, South-East, Chief Olisa Metu, stated the party’s position at a news conference in Owerri on Wednesday.

Metu said it had become necessary for the party to take such a stand in order to check the crises that had been rocking the party in the zone for some time now.

“Such crises are usually caused by members who defected to other parties and later rejoined it, after failing to find their bearing in the parties,’’ he said.

The National Vice-Chairman said the PDP in the South-East was not worried that the more than seven million registered voters in the zone was far less than that of the North-West zone.

The provisional voters register released recently by INEC showed that the South-West topped the list with a figure more than those of the South-East and South-South combined.

According to the register, the North-West zone has more than 18 million registered voters.

Metu pointed out that the Igbos constituted a good percentage of registered voters in Lagos and Kano, the two states with the highest number of registered voters.

“Our people are detribalised and that is why they never bothered to return home and register as voters, they registered where they live and will vote for PDP candidates there,” he said.

The party chieftain however said he was confident that the Igbos across the nation would cast their votes for President Goodluck Jonathan.

He expressed optimism that the situation would improve Jonathan’s chance of winning the April presidential election.

Metu said also that the PDP would win the governorship and other elections in all the states in the zone because the party’s zonal leadership was committed to “delivering” all its candidates.

On the PDP national chairmanship position, he advised those seeking the position to channel their aspiration through the party hierarchy in the zone.

“Leaders in the South-East, including Senate Vice-President Ike Ekweremadu, and our four state governors will decide on this issue of chairmanship,” he said.

Metu pointed out that the zone was for now not bothered so much about who became the PDP national chairman.

“The South-East is at present concerned about the ministerial and other positions to be allotted to it after the general elections,’’ he said.