The Abia State Chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is on the verge of extinction as its former leaders, stakeholders, and members continue to defect en masse to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
New Telegraph gathered that while Abia South Senatorial District formally joined ADC on Monday, August 18, 2025, their counterparts in Abia North and Abia Central are expected to follow suit in the coming days.
Speaking at the official defection event in Aba, the former APGA Vice Chairman for Abia South, Chief Charles Nwanyanwu, said the decision was inevitable given what he described as the mismanagement and collapse of APGA in the state.
Flanked by six former APGA local government chairmen, Nwanyanwu blamed the crisis on an allegedly fraudulent congress organized by the party’s former state chairman, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, and secretary, Sunday Onukwubiri.
“We were all at the venue waiting for the congress to start, only to discover that names of new state executives had already been announced without any congress taking place,” Nwanyanwu alleged. “Right there, we conducted our own congress, which produced Chief Emmanuel Egwu as APGA Chairman in Abia, but subsequent national leadership tussles destroyed what was left of the party.”
He noted that the endless litigations between Edozie Njoku and Sly Ezeokenwa over the APGA national chairmanship worsened the crisis, pushing members to abandon the party.
“For a party that won 14 seats in the Abia House of Assembly in 2015 and produced a House of Representatives member, to collapse to nothing today shows APGA was never properly managed. APGA has died a natural death in Abia,” he declared.
Receiving the defectors, ADC State Chairman Don-Norman Obinna said the mass movement into his party was proof that ADC had become the only credible platform for political victory in Abia.
“This is no accident. Abians believe in the ADC project and our proven record of leadership. As of today, more than 300,000 members have joined us. By the time Abia North and Central officially come on board, APGA will be completely emptied into ADC,” Obinna said.
He further stated that ADC’s rapid growth was part of a wider political realignment in the state.
“Even Labour Party was never stronger than ADC until Peter Obi joined them. But here in Abia, old LP members are returning to ADC. PDP and others are collapsing too. The movement is beyond any individual, and no politician outside ADC will survive future elections here,” he added.
With the wave of defections, observers say Abia’s political landscape is fast shifting, with ADC positioning itself as the new rallying point for opposition politics in the state.
