Recall that Umahi at a media briefing in Abakaliki on Tuesday said his decision to dump the PDP, was premised on his conviction that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was more amenable to working in the interest of the South East zone.
The Ebonyi governor also said that he was leaving the PDP because of the injustice meted out to the people of the zone despite several years of loyalty.
But Wike in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, said that contrary to Umahi’s claims, the PDP had not been unfair to the South East.
Wike noted that Umahi’s defection did not come to committed PDP members as a surprise because the Ebonyi State governor had been fraternising with the ruling party over time.
He said: “My friend, Umahi wants to be president. There is no problem about that. You have a right to be president. Nobody can stop you. You are educated, you have been a governor for two terms, so you are qualified to say I want to be president of Nigeria.
“My reaction to Governor Umahi’s defection is not that he has no right to defect, but to say he is defecting because of injustice meted to the South East that is insulting to the South East.”
While demanding that Umahi should retract his alleged false claims against the PDP, Wike argued that under the PDP, the South East had over the years produced Senate Presidents; National Vice Chairman of the PDP and Secretary to the Federal Government.
