‘Ikpeazu’s Anointed Candidate Unprepared for Governorship’

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Elders from the political block of  Governor of Abia State, Okezie  Ikpeazu, have given a damming assessment of the governorship candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying that he is “unprepared” to be a governor of the state.

Ikpeazu had in the run-up to the governorship primary insisted that he must “point the torch”, meaning to anoint his  successor, just like his predecessors had done. Consequently, he picked a former Vice-chancellor of the Abia State University Uturu (ABSU), Prof Uche Ikonne, who went on to win the PDP governorship ticket.

But the Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders with area of influence spanning the entire Abia South and half of Abia Central Senatorial districts said they have now realised that the governor made a wrong choice following Ikonne’s alleged “confession” before the elders that he was  not ready to be governor.

In a press statement signed by the Chairman of the Elders Council, Dr Max Nduaguibe obtained by THISDAY  in Umuahia, the elders said they arrived at their verdict after interaction with governorship candidates of Ukwa-Ngwa extraction.

A committee of eminent personalities of the Ukwa La Ngwa Elders Council had on August 9, 2022, interviewed three frontline governorship candidates of Ukwa/Ngwa, including Ikonne and  Enyinnaya Nwafor, the flag bearer of the Young Peoples Party (YPP).

Following the interview session held at the home of Archbishop Isaac P. Nwaobia, the Anglican Archbishop of Aba Province, they announced that the elders had adopted the PDP candidate.

But the Elders Council chairman disowned the claim from Ikonne’s camp, saying that no candidate was adopted and if the elders were to do so the lot would have fallen on Nwafor who performed “brilliantly.”

“We have never endorsed any candidate as far as Abia gubernatorial election is concerned.

“Even if we  were tempted to endorse any candidate, it would definitely not have been a candidate who confessed publicly (during the interview) that he had no plans to be governor, did not seek to be  governor until he was asked to run for governorship,”  he said.

Nduaguibe explained that the clarification became necessary because “we have enormous moral right and responsibility  to do  what is fair at all times”.

According to him, the group of elders “have constantly rejected financial or political gain to make from any politician or political group contrary to the narrow viewpoint of the run of mill politicians amongst us.”

To drive home his point, Nduaguibe, who was a former governorship candidate and deputy national chairman of defunct Democratic Party of Nigeria(DPP) further threw more light into what transpired at the interview of the Ngwa governorship candidates.

“At least 80 per cent of these eminent personalities including Eric Acho Nwakanma praised the outstanding presentation made by  Nwafor to the extent that if we had had a vote on that day,

“The confession of Prof. Ikonne about his unpreparedness to be governor would have marred whatever chances he would have had, if we were to put him side by side with the brilliant performance of  Nwafor.

Nduaguibe alluded that he had actually saved the anointed candidate from being disgraced, saying: “I on my own deliberately avoided us putting it(endorsement) into vote until our next meeting.