The deputy governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the 2023 Abia State election, Dr. Desmond Chima Anyaso, has officially defected to the Labour Party, alongside other notable political figures from various parties.
Among those who joined the Labour Party were Mr. Nnamdi Ibekwe, member representing Bende North State Constituency under the PDP, and Dr. Okey Ezeala of the APC. The mass defection took place in Uzuakoli, Bende Local Government Area.
The event also featured the commissioning of the newly reconstructed Ngwu Uzuakoli Primary Health Centre and the inauguration of the Bende LGA chapter of the Abia Arise Movement.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Anyaso said his decision to join Governor Alex Otti’s Labour Party was inspired by the governor’s purposeful and people-oriented leadership, which he said has rekindled hope in good governance.
He pledged his total support to Governor Otti’s rebuilding and transformation agenda and the Abia Arise Movement. As part of his commitment, he donated two branded coaster buses to the movement and formally announced his resignation from the YPP.
Receiving the defectors at Practicing School, Uzuakoli, Governor Otti reiterated the importance of grassroots involvement in his administration’s development agenda. He identified Abia North as strategic to the realization of his government’s Agro-Transformation Agenda, which targets sustainable food security, job creation, and increased foreign exchange earnings for the state.
He described the Abia Arise Movement as a non-partisan platform for grassroots mobilization and leadership development, calling on all citizens of the state to embrace its ideals and participate in its community-level activities.
“Our administration has shown that governance is about service—responding to public concerns and deploying public funds to uplift the people. Abians are happy not because of handouts, but because they now trust that the government consistently makes the right decisions,” Otti said.
He cited the recently completed 67.6km Umuahia–Uzuakoli–Abiriba–Ohafia Road, now named Joe Irukwu Way, as a major infrastructure project expected to significantly boost the region’s economy. Experts, he said, project a notable increase in the area’s GDP within the next 12 months due to improved access to markets and the revival of agro-industrial assets.
Governor Otti, who earlier commissioned the fully equipped Ngwu Uzuakoli Health Centre, revealed that his administration had, in the last 10 days, inaugurated 23 new projects across several LGAs—comprising 18 roads and five healthcare centres.
He issued a stern warning against the vandalism of public infrastructure, especially by scrap metal scavengers, and directed security agencies to arrest and prosecute offenders. He also cautioned community leaders, stating that they would be held responsible for vandalism within their domains.
In their separate remarks, the State Coordinator of the Abia Arise Movement, Mazi Nkem Okoro, and the Bende LGA Coordinator, Mr. Onyedikachi Iroegbu, described the movement as a product of the people’s yearning for purposeful leadership. They reaffirmed the group’s commitment to aligning with the governor’s vision and mission.
