Abaribe Retaliates, Stops Gov Ikpeazu From Replacing Him As Abia-South Senator

In what some may describe as giving someone a taste of their own medicine, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe has succeeded in stopping Governor Okezie Ikpeazu from replacing him at the National Assembly as the Senator representing Abia-South Senatorial District of Abia State.

This comes as Abaribe won Saturday’s senatorial election for Abia-South after polling 49,693 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chinedu Onyeizu, of the Labour Party who got 43,903 votes.

Ikpeazu came a distant third with 28,422 votes, to the shock of many who expected that his status as the incumbent governor of the state would work to his advantage.

This victory may come to Abaribe as payback against Governor Ikpeazu who had previously denied him the opportunity to contest the state’s governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

THE WHISTLER reported how the Ikpeazu-led Abia PDP was accused of scheming Abaribe out of the party’s governorship ticket through what some people described as a bizarre zoning arrangement.

Despite blocking Abaribe’s governorship bid, Ikpeazu purchased PDP senatorial forms and emerged as the party’s candidate to replace Abaribe in the Senate.

The development led to Abaribe’s resignation from the PDP and cost him his position as the Minority Leader in the 9th Senate.

Having lost the opportunity to contest the governorship election, Abaribe defected to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to seek reelection and stop Ikpeazu’s move to the Senate.

Abaribe had said that his exit from the PDP was due to “the shameful display of illegality, impunity, and undemocratic decision of the party”.