Ogochukwu Onyema, former Deputy President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Enugu State
National Democratic Congress (NDC) Senatorial aspirant for Enugu West in the 2027 elections, Ogochukwu Onyema has said he has lost confidence in the party even as he announced his exit from the party.
Onyema, a lawyer, who was among those that ported to the NDC from the ADC, stated that the party (NDC) was not real and has fallen short of his expectations.
In a media chat, he titled, “My experience with Nigeria Democratic Party (NDC), in the recent past”, which he presented on Friday, Onyema stated: “NDC is not as expected. It is not real. It is not transparent, and it is not sincere. Outside sales of Expression of Interest Forms, and collecting money by various means. No other thing contained in their published guidelines were complied with till date”.
Onyema, who participated in the primaries of the party last weekend, stated that a gr at deal was wrong with the party, stressing that, “The godfathers have jettisoned all our efforts, sacrifices, and victories, and are attempting to substitute genuine and popular aspirants with their personal loyalists and assistants”
According to him, “They have chosen to ignore capacity, political relevance, and the clear wishes of the people. They seem to believe that regardless of the outcome of the NDC Primary Election, they can impose any candidate of their choice and still expect the people to accept such a wicked decision. Unfortunately for them, the people are now wiser and more politically conscious”.
He disclosed that to facilitate an alleged manipulation, the leaders have deliberately refused to announce the results of the screening exercise, as well as the purported primary elections.
Onyema said their intention appears to be to enable certain “godfathers within the NDC to replace popular and rooted candidates with their preferred nominees and submit such names to INEC before making their biased-results public, so that it cannot be changed easily”.
He alleged further; “A particular godfather from Delta State ( a Professor of repute indeed, who preaches ‘New Nigeria’) is reportedly working through leaders of NDC to undermine and subvert the wishes of our people in Enugu West Senatorial district, by promoting his Personal Assistant—a person with no known political base, no established address in Enugu State, and whom the people neither know nor identify with—to take over the senatorial ticket meant for Enugu West. This is unfair to the people of Enugu West Senatorial Zone, and same will be duly resisted in the most civil manner”.
Nevertheless, he stated that he has resolved to deliver candidates in the 2028 elections but not by their political party, saying the people would distinguish incompetent fellows relying on another politicians wave.
Onyema alleged that all the structure built for Peter Obi which they had wanted to inject into NDC were rejected, with the surreptitious claim that “everybody has to remain in the party (NDC) for a minimum of 28 days before assuming office as an officer in NDC, hence no viable structure exists to my knowledge except at National and State, and few LG and Ward leadership”.
He assured that Enugu West has a credible alternative to vote as their Senator irrespective of political party affiliation.
