All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo, has said he has “no regrets whatsoever” over his recent defection to the APC, insisting that he left Labour out of deep dissatisfaction with the party’s internal structure and integrity.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, Ozigbo stated that his decision followed exhaustive efforts to resolve internal concerns within the Labour Party, all of which yielded no positive outcome.
“I have no regrets whatsoever. There are reasons for some of these movements that you see. Some of them are genuine considerations, either because of lack of internal party mechanism to resolve issues fairly and equitably, that can actually put somebody out. And then some others may find other reasons, some noble, some not so noble, what they are looking for and seeking for in the party they’re moving to. In my case, I made mine very clear. Of course, there are reasons – I wasn’t comfortable with what was going on in Labour Party.
“I detailed them, I engaged, I escalated, I exhausted all the options. And when I saw that that was not being dealt with, then it opened up a conversation. If it’s not going to be Labour Party, where else? So I put all the parties on the table and I did my introspection. I prayed about it, I engaged as much as I could. And for me, there are only two options we have in this country today. Either be in a mainstream party, and see how you can change what you’re looking for, or be part of opposition. I see a very dysfunctional opposition. I would love to see a more credible, stronger opposition in Nigeria, because opposition politics helps for a better democracy, strengthening the democracy. So I’d like to see that happen.
“But what we are seeing today is not giving hope, giving confidence. And so what is left for people of good conscience, really, like me, is to say, okay, since we’re almost left with APC today, what can we do to make APC a better place so that governance can even be better entrenched, and a good party, internal democracy can be uplifted? And I’m comfortable that I’m in APC today, and people are already calling me and saying, people are not seeing what you’re saying. There may be different reasons why different people are coming into APC, but I am here for noble reasons.”
Ozigbo, who contested in the 2021 Anambra governorship election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before joining Labour, explained that he ultimately settled on the APC because it currently offers the only real opportunity for meaningful engagement with governance and political reform.
Ozigbo emphasised that his decision was not driven by selfish political ambition but by a desire to serve Anambra people effectively, connect the state to the national grid of governance, and help deliver the dividends of democracy.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
