Abaribe to Battle Ikpeazu for Abia South Senatorial Seat after Quiting PDP

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

After dumping the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and resigning his position as Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has signalled his intention to do battle with Governor Okezie Ikpeazu over the Abia South senatorial seat.

Abaribe, who has been in the Senate for 12 years now, confirmed to journalists when contacted on phone that he was no longer a member of PDP but would still pursue his ambition to retain his seat in the Senate.

He said that he would contest for senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for Abia South Senatorial District, meaning that he would contend with Ikpeazu at the poll next year. The governor has already picked the Abia South senatorial ticket of the PDP without any challenge.

The fiery Senator fell out with the Abia PDP and Governor Ikpeazu when he faced hurdles and failed to actualise his dream of picking the governorship ticket of the ruling PDP.

When he withdrew from the 2023 gubernatorial race, he had cited “lack of transparency and the use of only an imaginary three-man adhoc delegates to the exclusion of the party’s statutory delegates in the primary elections”.

But this time around, he said that he decided to walk away from PDP and also quit his top position in Senate because of “the shameful display of illegality, impunity and undemocratic decision of the party and after due consultations with my constituents”.

The Abia PDP is already experiencing big cracks as the controversial delegates list has created disatisfaction and bad blood.

Before the the May 25, 2022 governorship primary most PDP governorship aspirants, including Abaribe had withdrawn from the race over the issue of delegates and some have left for other parties to actualise their dreams.

But with APGA already saturated with heavy weight governorship aspirants before his arrival it became clear to Abaribe that he could no longer pursue his governorship dream in his new party hence his decision to go for senatorial ticket.