Ex-Gov Chime Is Inexperienced Politician – Ekweremadu
BY RAPHAEL ONYEKACHUKWU, ENUGU – The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Sunday night described former governor of Enugu state, Sullivan Chime, as an inexperienced politician, following his defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the weekend.
Ekweremadu, who spoke while addressing mammoth crowd of supporters from Enugu West Senatorial district who paid solidarity visit to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi at the Government House, said what befell Chime’s predecessors after defecting to other parties, is likely going to befall Chime whom he described as refusing to learn from history.
Chime had on Saturday formally defected to the APC. He had repeated his call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register the PDP, describing it as a dead political platform.
Buoyed by the mammoth crowd that witnessed his official registration into the APC in his ward in Udi, Chime said that now was the ripe time for him to register and become part of a winning and functional national party, the APC.
“Finally, I have left that wreckage called PDP. It was a great party. The only place you can be now, if you are politically active, is APC. I wouldn’t want to say much about PDP. That party that was once a great party is now dead. It is no more. When I was coming here, I thought I was coming for the funeral.
“Go home and tell our people that this is just the beginning; tell them that the party is gone,” said Chime who told his supporters that he did not join the APC for any political position, but to redirect the people to a robust party that has life running in its veins.
However, Ekweremadu observed that the former governor has refused to learn from the mistakes of his predecessors. “When Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani was governor; Senator Jim Nwobodo left PDP for another party, since then, he has not recovered himself politically; when Sullivan Chime became governor, his mentor and predecessor, Dr. Nnamani left PDP and, since then, he has not found his feet politically. Chime has towed the same path.
“You can see that none of the legislatures of APC from the south-east attended his defection rally in Udi, his home town. Only Sokoto state governor, who came to Enugu for a different function, heard it and joined in the celebration,” declared the Deputy Senate President.
