By VINCENT UJUMADU & ENYIM ENYIM
AWKA — AFTER 10 months of waiting, the five Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members of the Anambra State House of Assembly were yesterday sworn-in by the speaker, Mrs. Chinwe Nwaebili, with two of them  decamping to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

The swearing-in of the lawmakers was delayed as a result of a court injunction by a faction of PDP in the state over the right candidate of the party.

There was a mild drama at the House of Assembly as two of them defected to APGA immediately after being sworn in.

Those who decamped were Paulinus Onyeka from Ekwusigo constituency and John Olibie from Dunukofia constituency who cited the developmental strides of the state governor, Peter Obi, as reason for their action.

“Anambra has not witnessed the type of development it is witnessing today under Obi. It is only a person that does not have the interest of the State at heart that would not support and belong to a performing team”, one of the defectors, Olibie said.

Also, Paulinus Onyeka from Ekwusigo Constituency, expressed gratitude for being sworn- in and recognized as a legislator and said he had decided to join APGA because Governor Obi had enthroned good governance in the state with equity and justice, noting that development projects were evenly spread across the state.

He, however, drew government’s attention to some roads in his constituency especially the Nkwo Orifite and Nkwo Nnewi roads which contracts were awarded some years back, but the work had continued to drag.

With the latest defections, APGA now has 18 out of the 30 members in the house.

Early this year, the members representing Anambra West and Nnewi South constituencies who were both members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, can, decamped to APGA.The three other PDP members who were sworn in yesterday were Vivian Okadigbo (Oyi), Obinna Emenaka (Anambra East) and Rebecca Udoji (Awka North).

In her speech, the speaker of the House said the five members had received their Certificates of Return from INEC which they submitted to the clerk of the House, together with their declaration of assets. She equally urged them to place emphasis on the interest and well being of the state.

The new members, who pledged to defend the constitution of Nigeria and adhere to the rules and regulations of the House were urged by the speaker to integrate themselves into the system as members of one family, noting that party affiliation was secondary.

….S-East PDP executive vows to reposition party
By TONY EDIKE

ENUGU—THE new National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, South East zone, Col Austin Akobundu (rtd), yesterday, assumed office at the party headquarters in Enugu with a pledge to device fresh strategies on how to effectively tackle the myriads of challenges facing the party in the zone.

He said everything possible would be done to reposition the party to enable it maintain its winning string in the zone.

Akobundu who spoke with newsmen, also frowned at the crisis currently being faced at the state chapters, especially in Anambra State, saying such seemingly intractable crisis would be a thing of the past.

He made a passionate appeal to all those who felt aggrieved over the outcome of the recently concluded congresses that ushered in the new leadership at both the state and zonal levels to bury the hatchet in the interest and continued growth of the party.

The zonal chairman said  if the interest of members was to enthrone a party that would command the respect and regard of the people of the zone, there was no need plaguing the party into avoidable crisis, promising to ensure that the new administration carried everybody along.

Akobundu who hails from Abia State also assured party members from the five states of the zone that he would use his new office to build bridges that would see to the end of crisis at the various chapters.

”We’ll interface with the national and state levels at every point to make our party strong in the zone. It is not in our interest that we continue to bicker, which to me should not exist in politics. The challenge before this new executive is to build bridges of peace, reconciliation that will provide lasting solutions to all the problems we have faced so far,” he said.

While commending the immediate past leadership of the party in the zone under the now National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh for making serious efforts in entrenching the party in the zone, Akobundu declared his readiness to continue from where Metuh stopped, adding that he would equally ensure that further in-depth repositioning took place before the end of his four-year term.