The third democratically elected governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Senator Orji, who represented Abia Central Senatorial District in the Senate from 2015 to 2023, had announced his retirement from active politics a few months ago but did not formally renounce his membership of the PDP at the time.

The Nation recalls that his son, a former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji had earlier dumped the PDP amid the internal crisis rocking the party, once regarded as the largest political party in Africa. Political observers had widely interpreted the younger Orji’s move to the APC as a possible signal of his father’s eventual defection.

As speculated, the former Abia Central senator, who has largely maintained a low public profile since his retirement, has now formally left the PDP for the APC, a decision many analysts say had long been anticipated.

Observers note that Senator Orji’s defection has further weakened the PDP in Abia State, given his influence and reputation as one of the party’s key rallying points and financiers in the state.

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Confirming the development, the former governor’s media aide, Mr. Ifeanyi Umere, told our correspondent that the defection was a personal decision. He added that there was no official reason provided for the move.

While some stakeholders have welcomed the continued growth of the APC and what they describe as the strengthening of opposition politics in the state, others have expressed concern that the defection could deal a significant blow to the PDP’s structure and its prospects of regaining political dominance in Abia State.