The lawmaker representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon Dennis Agbo, has said he would decamp to the Peoples Democratic Party because of the sterling scorecard of Gov Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
Hon Agbo, who was elected on the platform of the Labour Party, said Governor Mbah’s good governance deserved the support from every stakeholder in the state.
He told newsmen in Enugu ahead of his decamping that he left PDP ahead of the 2023 general elections because of the party’s internal crisis.
According to him, “Then in PDP, there were a myriad of problems. In 2023, it was clear that the government of PDP was not doing well. We tried as much as possible to try to contribute ideas to make the government work better but those ideas were not accepted. So the government continued to go the wrong way, and every person in Enugu State knew that this government was not performing.”
He said he joined LP because he believed that his people deserved something better.
Quoting him, “We went to the Labour Party, and then started telling our people that on this platform we would be able to do something better. Remember that I was at the House of Representatives before. I assured them that there I would be able to repeat what I did earlier. I thanked them and I always thank them. I try to work very hard. The more I work, the more they also trust me.”
On why he is dumping LP, he said, “We came in, we used the platform of the Labour Party, a brand new platform and we contested elections. We had opportunities to tell our people, look, we are new. But in the Labour Party, of course, because it was a new party, a lot of people came in, the good, the bad, even the ugly.”
On his next party, Hon Agbo said, “We are all concerned about the development of Enugu State. And then when the coin turned, when they took the bend, and the new government came into Enugu State and started showing seriousness, the things that were missing were getting done, so many things.”
He mentioned areas of good governance in the state to include security, education, road infrastructure and agriculture.
Quoting him, Insecurity was the thing in Enugu State. Gov Mbah came in, and brought this command and control center. It is the next generation way of solving the issue of insecurity. He has hundreds of vehicles equipped with modern gadgets, communication gadgets, satellite based cameras, monitoring all the hot spots in this state, reporting to a command. That is the way to go.
“Two, he has this farm estate project that he’s doing. All the 260 wards in Enugu State are supposed to cultivate at least 20 hectares. It is an agricultural revolution, next to what Michael Okpara did in the 60s. Nothing has happened at that level since that time.”
On education, the lawmaker commended Gov Mbah’s initiatives. According to him, “Teaching is conducted with technology. The man is now saying it is not just the children of the privileged few that will attend private schools, but the public schools in Enugu State. In every ward, there’s a smart school, where the children of everybody can access and the children will go there, get acquainted with the use of tablets, computers, e-learning, magic boards, interactive boards for teaching. These teachers are also being retrained to be able to cope. The thing is like a roller-coaster.”
He also said the governor recently commissioned 141 urban roads, adding that, “A lot of bridges are being constructed. There are so many things that are happening now, and we wonder why all these things were not happening before, and that was why we had the disagreement with PDP as at that time.”
Agbo therefore called on all Enugu State stakeholders to join hands with Gov Mbah: “Some of us who are in Abuja, in the House of Reps, in the Senate, we should bring incremental resources, assistance, support, funding from the center to support what the governor is doing. We are not playing politics yet. We are trying to build synergy, to help the government with what they’re doing.”
He also claimed that his constituents had been pressuring him to join Gov Mbah. In his words, “For the past one month, I have had my house in the village turned to some pilgrimage of some sorts, where various groups are coming around differently, making one request that Peter Mbah is working, and that I should relate well with him.
“I’ve weighed it and I know that these people are correct. Now I’ve gone to consult the people because these are the same people who we went back to and said, look, we can’t stay here again, we are leaving.
“The job for me to return to PDP is made and agreed by my people. It is now a matter of time and process, and the process is really on now. Ultimately I’m returning to PDP; the decision is made, and when I take a decision, I don’t wait on it, I don’t romance it. I am returning to PDP and that is because the processes are in progress now.”
