Group Carpets Role of Abia Elders in Ikpeazu, Ogah Tussle

A non-governmental organisation, Abia Redemption Congress, ARC, has described as ignoble the role of Abia elders in the ongoing governorship tussle in Abia State involving  Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Dr. Uche Ogah, both of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

It would be recalled that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja had on June 27, 2016, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately issue Certificate of Return to Dr. Ogah, who polled the second highest number of votes in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; governorship primaries.

But the Abia elders who convened an emergency meeting on the political development in the state declared their support for Ikpeazu, and described the court Order as reckless.

However, the Abia Redemption Group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator and Executive Director (External Affairs), Sam Anyalewechi and Justice O. Ike said it was disturbing that the group of Abuja elders who stood idly for long while Abia people suffered, had contrived to sit in judgment over God’s anointed judicial pronouncement on Abia State.

“There is an Igbo idiom that an elder does not stand by while the goat delivers her new born in tethers. This group of Abuja elders stood idly by for so long and suffered the people to rape and destruction without lifting a finger”, they noted.

The statement further said that “today Ogah faces Abia elders that will rather cavort and protect their bloated egos and pecuniary interests than postulate solutions to how civil servants in Abia can get their eight months unpaid salaries- forgery and perjury means nothing to them as that has been their way of lives”.

He said that it was only in this clime that our elders who had fleeced the people all their lives were junketing all over the country, imputing ethnic and spurious reason as to why Ikpeazu should continue in office.

“Let it be placed on record that the struggle to free Abia from the clutches of these leeches is without boundary. That is why the contention that Old Bende people have come to rob Ukwa-Ngwa people of their mandate this time should be discountenanced.

“Uche Ogah’s campaign defied such base ethnic sentiments because he connected easily to everyone with the sheer force of his development agenda for Abia State as contained in his own epistle titled My Quest’ backed by proven integrity in industrial and people building”. He pointed out.

The group also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to track the accounts of the so called elders. This according to them is to forestall the squandering of the alleged billions of naira moved from Umuahia into Abuja in the last one week, which is aimed at “procuring favourable judgment for the ousted Robin Hood in Abia”.