The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State has described as “fake news” reports that Governor Dave Umahi plans to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The spokesperson for APC in the state, Simbard Ogbuatu, in a statement on Friday in Abakaliki, advised APC members and supporters to discountenance the news.

Mr Ogbuatu said the news that the governor would be returning to PDP is credited to a chieftain of PDP in Abia State, Isaac Nkole.

“We wish to state boldly that Umahi has not, either in person, a representative or through a surrogate made and will never make any move to return to the ‘Social Club’ known as PDP,” Mr Ogbuatu said.

According to him, Mr Umahi is at home in APC as the leader of the party for more than one year and urged the public to disregard the news as a “figment of the imagination of the originator”.

He said Mr Umahi’s defection to APC was not done to achieve selfish enrichment but for the greater good of Ebonyi and the Southeast region.

“Umahi’s defection to the national party did not come to him as stupefaction, neither did he join for selfish enrichment.

“The defection is a well-thought-out movement decided in the greater interest of Ebonyi in particular and the Southeast in general,” he said.

Mr Ogbuatu said the governor was following in the footsteps of the first president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe “from the zone who had always believed in the politics of the centre”.

He also said that Mr Umahi defected to APC to “join hands with President Muhammadu Buhari and other well-meaning Nigerians to take the country to the next level”.

Every part of the Southeast has benefitted from infrastructure development under Mr Buhari administration, he said.

Francis Nwaze, a media aide to Governor Umahi, has also described the news of the governor returning to PDP as fake.

“I’ll like to confirm that the statement is completely false.

“Let me state that the governor has since moved on and has made the ruling APC his home, enjoying the full compliments of being a party at the centre, and does not need to even contemplate returning to PDP,” Mr Nwaze said in a statement.

TodayNG