In a manner reminiscent of the defections that occurred in Delta and Cross River states earlier in the year, Governor Peter Mbah and all elected and appointive officers of the state are set to formally defect from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday next week.
The newly inaugurated Enugu State APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, confirmed the development to newsmen at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja after taking the oath of office yesterday.
The bug of defection might also have bitten Benue State with strong rumour that former governor of the state Senator Gabriel Suswam and erstwhile boss of the National Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Dr. Paul Orhii were set to defect from PDP to APC.
Nwoye said Governor Mbah, all his appointees and the entire state’s political structure would officially be received into the party on October 14.
He made the disclosure during a press briefing by the newly inaugurated Enugu State Caretaker Committee.
Describing Mbah’s defection as the dawn of a new political era for Enugu and the Southeast region, Nwoye said the governor’s coming into APC would be “a merger between transformation and renewed hope.”
“For the past 10 years, Enugu State has remained in opposition. But all that ends on Tuesday when Governor Peter Mbah declares for the APC. And he is not coming alone,” Nwoye said.
According to him, the defection will signal a “historic alignment” as Mbah will be joined by 260 councillors, 24 state lawmakers, National Assembly members, and the entire state executive council—an unprecedented political realignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Where Enugu goes, the Southeast goes. This marks the beginning of the Southeast’s political reawakening and full integration into national politics,” Nwoye said with a tone of confidence.
Commending the Governor Mbah’s performance in his last two years in office, Nwoye, who was the founding state chairman of the party, noted that his economic and infrastructural reforms had elevated the state to one of Nigeria’s top-performing states in internally generated revenue.
He added that the synergy between Mbah’s Transformation Agenda and President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Vision would accelerate development and economic growth across the Southeast.
APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who inaugurated the seven-man caretaker committee for the party in the state, had earlier hinted of moves by the APC to strengthen its foothold in the Southeast.
The APC chairman charged the new Enugu leadership to consolidate the shock defection into a “lasting political conquest”
“APC is home for all. The person who came yesterday, today or tomorrow has equal rights.
“Our goal is simple: to expand, to win, and to deliver overwhelming victory in 2027,” Yilwatda said.
APC’s Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Eneukwu, who is from the state, said the political development in the state marked the return of the Southeast region to national relevance.
“We will no longer play second fiddle. With Enugu in APC, the Southeast has found its voice again,” he declared.

Uncertainty over Suswam’s, ex-NAFDAC boss’ defection in Benue
There were strong rumours yesterday that Suswam, Orhii who currently serves as a member of the House of Representatives representing Agatu/Apa Federal constituency, Hon. Ojema Ojotu and former Benue North East Senator, Prof. David Iornem were set to join the APC in Benue State.
This was in spite of a statement issued by the media aide to Suswam dispelling the rumour that his boss had defected from PDP to the ruling party.
Banners and signposts announcing their official defection and pre-decamping dinner adorned major roads and streets in Makurdi, the state capital, yesterday.
It is the first time Suswam would defect to another party since joining politics in 1999.
The black cat, as the former governor is widely known first won an election to represent Katsina Ala, Logo and Ukum Federal Constituency in the House Representatives on the platform of the PDP.
After eight years in the House of Representatives, he was elected the governor of Benue State for another eight years also on the platform of PDP.
His first bid to go to the Senate, however, ended in a fiasco as he lost the election. He, however, made a second bid and won election into the Senate.
He had remained in PDP even after losing his re-election bid until yesterday when the news of his defection broke.
There was jubilation from Suswam’s massive camp of supporters yesterday on hearing that the former governor had defected to APC.
In Anyiin his country home and Ayilamo settlement, there was dancing and singing throughout the day, with shouts Dom Agya as Suswam is known in his ancestry home.
At press time yesterday, he was locked in a meeting with his supporters.
The Trust News.com learnt that the meeting was meant to deliberate on the date for the defection ceremony.
But the media aide to Senator Suwswam, Bede Bartholomew, yesterday denied the claims that his boss had defected to APC.
Bartholomew however admitted that Governor Hyacinth Alia two days ago extended an invitation to Suwswam and other leaders for a banquet with him at Government House Makurdi.
A press statement he signed and made available to our correspondent yesterday reads: “Moments ago, I received telephone calls from well-meaning Benuelites and leaders alerting me to trending news on Benue’s social media space purporting that the former governor of Benue State, His Excellency Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam, is set to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) today and would be received by the Governor of Benue State, His Excellency Governor Hyacinth Alia, this evening at the Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House.
“I debunk this unholy rumour with all vehemence as it doesn’t represent the current interests of Senator Gabriel Suswam or that of his supporters across the state and should be treated as a mere rumour and that’s all.
“What I know is that two days ago, the Governor of Benue State HE. Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia respectfully extended an invitation to Sen. Suswam, among other stakeholders, expressing his desire to attend a State Banquet slated for 10th October, 2025.
“It should be noted that as a former Governor of the State, Suswam is a stakeholder in the Benue project, thus his reason for accepting the invitation.
“There was no indication in the invitation letter that it was a political event or a decamping ceremony whatsoever.
“The former governor advises his supporters and well-wishers to disregard this rumour as it is baseless, aimless, and a lie from the deepest pit of hell.
“Suswam appreciates everyone who called in for further enquiries and concerns and wishes everyone a happy weekend ahead.

Defections: Blame no one for your woes, says APC as PDP kicks
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accusing the opposition party of being responsible for its woes as more of its members are dumping it for the governing party.
This came on the heels of plans by the PDP governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, and the entire elective and appointive officers of the state to defect to APC on Tuesday.
The PDP had on Thursday blamed the wave of defections from the party on APC, accusing the ruling party of engaging in intimidation and coercion of its elected members.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, while reacting to reports of the planned defection of some governors elected on the platform of the party to the APC, accused the ruling party for its misfortune.
“The APC is orchestrating all of this through intimidation, through coercion, through blackmail,” he said.
But APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, waved off the PDP allegation, insisting that the opposition party was only crying over a self-inflicted problem.
Dismissing the PDP allegation, Morka said: “The PDP continues to ridicule itself by the boring, repetitive and baseless claim that APC is, somehow, intimidating or cajoling its governors and other senior members to dump their wreck of a party.
“The PDP is the sole maker of its own political predicament. The party is only harvesting well-deserved adversity from decades of political recklessness, mindless corruption, ruthless desecration of democracy, disgraceful failure of leadership, and destructive impunity that characterised its existence.”
Justifying the defection to APC, Morka argued that “the governors and members that are dumping the party in their numbers are doing so in exercise of their free democratic will, and wisely so, to mitigate against the devastating fate that Nigerians will deal the party in the upcoming 2027 elections.”

The Council of State has unanimously approved the nomination of Joash Ojo Amupitan as the next chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the conclusion of Mahmood Yakubu’s tenure.
The decision came during a meeting of the council held at the State House and presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Here are things to know about the new INEC chief:

1. Amupitan is 58. He was born on April 25, 1967.
2. He hails from Ayetoro Gbede, Ijumu LGA in Kogi State
3. He is a Professor of Law at the University of Jos, Plateau. He is also an alumnus of the university.
4. He specialises in Company Law, Law of Evidence, Corporate Governance, and Privatisation Law. He became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2014.
5. After completing primary and secondary education, he attended Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, from 1982 to 1984, and the University of Jos from 1984 to 1987. He was called to the bar in 1988.
6. He earned an LLM at UNIJOS in 1993 and a PhD in 2007, amid an academic career that began in 1989, following his National Youth Service at the Bauchi State Publishing Corporation in Bauchi from 1988 to 1989.
7. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) at the University of Jos, a position he holds in conjunction with being the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Joseph Ayo Babalola University in Osun State.
8. Among the academic positions he has held at UNIJOS are: Chairman of the Committee of Deans and Directors (2012-2014); Dean of the Faculty of Law (2008-2014); and Head of Public Law (2006-2008).
9. Outside of academics, Amupitan serves as a board member of Integrated Dairies Limited in Vom, a member of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Governing Council, and a member of the Council of Legal Education (2008-2014), among other roles. He was a board member of Riss Oil Limited, Abuja (1996-2004).
10. Amupitan is the author of many books on law, such as Corporate Governance: Models and Principles (2008); Documentary Evidence in Nigeria (2008); Evidence Law: Theory and Practice in Nigeria (2013), Principles of Company Law (2013), and an Introduction to the Law of Trust in Nigeria (2014).

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State is facing a deepening internal crisis as some aggrieved members have rejected the recently concluded state congress that produced Barrister Victor Modupe Aisida as the new state chairman.
Aisida emerged at the congress held last month, succeeding Rt. (Hon.) Bakitta Bello, who completed the tenure of the late Hon. Fatai Adams.
Other newly elected executives include Akin Oyewole (Deputy Chairman), Oluseye Olujimi (Secretary), Jolade Aladetan (Publicity Secretary), and Woke Akindiose (Legal Adviser).
Although the congress was described as peaceful, the party’s 2024 governorship candidate, Agboola Ajayi, was conspicuously absent from the exercise.
However, in a statement issued on Wednesday, a group within the party known as Kick Against Deceit alleged that the congress was deliberately manipulated to favour certain leaders within the PDP.
In the statement signed by Hon. Bamidele Ojo, the group’s Protem Director of Public Communications, the members described the entire process as a “charade.”
“We, as members of a group within the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State, Kick Against Deceit, hereby condemn and totally reject the just concluded state congress of the PDP in Ondo State. We insist that the process was wilfully manipulated to serve the interests of a few leaders,” the statement read.
Rising from a meeting held in Akure and chaired by Hon. Olaniyi Ogungbuji, the group expressed disappointment in the party’s leadership, accusing it of hypocrisy and lack of transparency despite its public posturing as a credible alternative ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The aggrieved members alleged that, contrary to earlier assurances that existing senatorial district arrangements and officeholders who had not completed eight years would be retained, the congress outcome defied that understanding.
“We realised that what was preached was not followed in any way. The positions were not only swapped from one senatorial district to another, but those who had not spent up to eight years were removed without any justifiable reasons,” the statement continued.
“At the end of the scam, some local governments enjoyed both national and state positions, while others were left out entirely, depending on the presence of any member of the leadership cartel in such local governments. The positions were not given based on competence, equity, or fairness but on a ‘chop-make-I-chop’ basis.”
The group vowed to challenge the outcome of the congress before higher authorities within the party, insisting that allowing the “charade” to stand would set a dangerous precedent ahead of the 2027 polls.
The statement added, “Having thoroughly deliberated on the process and the conduct of the exercise, we concluded that the outcome must not be allowed to stand. We have therefore resolved to challenge the result in the interest of our great party.”
Those present at the meeting included Olaniyi Ogungbuji, Charles Adeduro, B.J. Lawal, Pat Ojo, Adebayo Adeyemi Adedipe, Bamidele Ojo, and Caroline Olubitan.
Others were Olowokanga Ayininuola, Dagbatan Anjorin Peter, Comrade Olawale Ijanusi, Oyinlusi Yemisi, and Eyiyemi Oluwatuyi.