Etiaba: Why I dumped APGA for PDP

Insideafrik
NEWS, NIGERIA
Tobi Soniyi

n the face of the protracted crisis rocking the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), former Governor of Anambra State, Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, has explained why she dumped the crisis-ridden party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Etiaba, who was the centre of attraction at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre on Sunday evening in Abuja, venue of a dinner held to mark her 70th birthday and launch of her autography: “My Life; My Story,” said she left the party because  those who controlled the party as a private property were uncomfortable with her.

Etiaba, who gave detail account of herself, as a mother, teacher, deputy governor and later governor in her book, also said she listened to voices of reason that called her into PDP after he had saved APGA from apparent annihilation.

Her words: “The pressure to join PDP was apparent even before I joined partisan politics. Leaders of the party (PDP) who knew that I could mobilise men and women especially in my senatorial zone, never ceased to suggest that the PDP was a natural habitat for me. The appeal I testified after the governorship elections of 2003...however, I did not feel that it was right to leave APGA at that point.

“By the time I left the government of the state, it had become obvious that my presence in APGA was discomforting to the very few people who controlled the affairs of the party. They felt the party had become their private property.

“In keeping with my status as a mother and one of who used her position as governor to save the party from apparent annihilation and who had given members of APGA pride of place in the government, I decided to listen to the voices of reason calling from the PDP, although no party in Nigeria is perfect at all times.

“I must mention that PDP was not the only political party that made overtures to me but I decided to join a party that has the capacity to rise above the pursuit of personal interest,” she said.

“My declaration for the PDP, ably facilitated by Dr. Alex Ekwueme, was heralded by the highest echelon of the party at the party’s final Jonathan/Sambo presidential campaign rally at Eagles Square, Abuja in 2011,” she said. 

Speaking at the event, Mrs Patience Jonathan, who was represented by the wife of Vice-President,  Hajiya Amina Namadi Sambo, congratulated  Etiaba, on her 70th birthday and the launch of her book, describing her as evidence of a woman in whom the Lord is well pleased.

“We see in the case of Dame Etiaba, evidence of a woman in whom the Lord is well pleased. These include accomplishments expressed in terms of what values you have so obviously added to your life, as well as the lives of virtually everybody who has crossed paths with you.”