By Ugochukwu Alaribe

State chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party NNPP in Abia State, Chief Ogaranya Ifemeje, has debunked reports that the state chapter of the party has collapsed into the ruling Labour Party in the state.

The NNPP governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Chief Ukpa Iro Ukpai, had last weekend, led some people to a courtesy call on Governor Alex Otti, where he stated that the NNPP in Abia had collapsed into the LP.

The governorship candidate, had during the visit, commended Otti’s achievements and assured of assisting the governor in placing the state in higher position.

However, the state chairman of the NNPP, denied that no member of the party defected to LP and described Ukpai and those that accompanied him during the visit as non members of NNPP.

He insisted that NNPP in Abia state is intact and has no need to collapse into any political party.

He said;”No member of the NNPP has defected to any political party in Abia. Those who visited the Governor are not members of NNPP.  You saw the person you said was the candidate of the party during the visit? If he was truly a candidate, you would have seen him with his followers and maybe, officials of the party,but no member accompanied him to the visit. So, those you saw during the visit are non members of NNPP. Our party is still intact. During the last election which you said he was the candidate, did you see his campaign posters anywhere in the state? Why should NNPP worry about such a person and those you saw during the visit? No member of NNPP was in that gathering.No member of NNPP has defected to any party.

“If he was a candidate,you would have seen him accompanied by his followers. Labour Party should enjoy themselves with such people.

“NNPP isn’t worried about them.Labour Party already has enough trouble of her own with Lamidi Apapa, Abure and Nenadi Usman. They should put their house in order. It is false to say NNPP collapsed into such a party. Abia NNPP is intact,no member detected to Labour Party.”