Abia 2023: ‘Are You Saying Ikpeazu Is A Failure?’ — Anointed Candidate Of Gov Sparks Reactions After Preaching Change

In a remark suggesting that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has performed below the expectations of Abia State citizens, the governor’s anointed candidate for the 2023 Abia governorship, Professor Uche Ikonne, has promised to ‘change’ the story of the people if elected into office.

Ikonne, the immediate-past Vice-Chancellor of the Abia State University, made the allusion after picking up the governorship form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the party’s national secretariat on Wednesday in Abuja.

The former Abia State Polytechnic Rector left some Abia citizens wondering what he meant when he said “Our Story Must Change!” adding “The journey to our success has begun” in a Facebook post he shared after picking up his expression of interest and nomination forms.

One David Odigbo while responding to Ikonne’s statement, asked “From what to what actually? Are you indirectly telling us Ikpeazu is a failure? You were, and [are] still part of the system, it runs in you guys DNA.”

Similarly, one Obinna Prince asked “Change from what to what?” while reacting on the social media platform.

Meanwhile, THE WHISTLER understands that the politician from Abia Central, one of the two zones where the PDP recently zoned its governorship ticket to, is the preferred candidate of Governor Ikpeazu.

While the governor has yet to make his support for Ikonne public, it was gathered that the PDP’s recent inclusion of Abia Central in its governorship zoning was to pave the way for the aspirant in the 2023 poll.

The party’s zoning arrangement announced in a statement by the Abia PDP Chairman, Alwell Asiforo, on Saturday, had sparked negative reactions from party stakeholders in the state.

One of such reactions came from Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of the Abia-South Senatorial District, who had accused Governor Ikpeazu and the Abia PDP leadership of deliberately trying to scheme him out of the governorship race by zoning the position to the Abia North and Abia Central Senatorial Districts.

Abaribe, who is the Senate Minority Leader, had said “Only Abia people will decide who will be their governor in 2023,” citing section 42(2) of the 1999 Constitution as guaranteeing his right to contest the election.

In his reaction, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Onyema Ugochukwu, described the zoning arrangement as strange, accusing the leadership of trying to impose a candidate on the party as the zoning arrangement was reached without engagement with the statutory organs of the party.

The zoning, which many fear may polarise the Abia PDP going into the 2023 election, was also rejected by party stakeholders from the Abia North Senatorial District.

Dr. Eme Okoro, in a statement he issued on Wednesday, said the Abia North PDP stakeholders “unanimously and vehemently reject the purported double zoning arrangement,” describing it as “retrogressive, obnoxious, conflict-prone, high-handed, self-centered and disruptive to the system that has been running smoothly for the past 23 years.”

Okoro added, “We are amused and amazed that the leadership of our great Party could have the temerity to zone the governorship to Abia Central that handed over power to Abia South just seven years ago while Abia North has been waiting patiently for the past 15 years without worries. It is not only laughable but a joke taken too far which no well meaning individual or group will take seriously. Let the right thing be done to save our great Party and State from the devastations that follow misguided policies.

“We are amused and amazed that the leadership of our great Party could have the temerity to zone the governorship to Abia Central that handed over power to Abia South just seven years ago while Abia North has been waiting patiently for the past 15 years without worries. It is not only laughable but a joke taken too far which no well meaning individual or group will take seriously. Let the right thing be done to save our great Party and State from the devastations that follow misguided policies.

“We see this arrangement as an affront on the good people of Abia North who have always worked hard, sometimes at their own detriment to ensure that power rotates equitably among the three senatorial zones. We view it clearly as a design to deny Abia North the chance of producing the next governor, but we will resist that through all means available.

“We also disagree with the directive asking all the aspirants in Abia North and Abia Central to liaise with the Party for presentation to the State Elders Committee between March 26 and March 30, 2022 because the State Elders Committee has not been formally constituted and therefore does not have the force of law.”