2023: Ikpeazu Scoffs at Abaribe’s Governorship Ambition, Calls it Distraction

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo
in Umuahia

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, yesterday, scoffed at the alleged governorship ambition of his kinsman and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in 2023, describing it as a distraction.

Abaribe, who hails from Obingwa Local Government as Ikpeazu had on December 24, 2021,broken the news of his governorship ambition to the governor, his kinsman, during a Christmas visit to the governor’s Umuobiakwa country home.

But in a press statement by Ikpeazu’s chief press secretary, Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, the governor dissociated himself from Abaribe’s ambition to avoid distractions to his administration.

The governor’s spokesman said, it was unfortunate that Abaribe’s scheduled annual Christmas visit to Ikpeazu, which was “a display of brotherhood and love” had generated “misleading insinuations and needless innuendos” in the media hence the need for proper clarification.

“In view of the above, it will be inexpedient for him (Ikpeazu) to associate himself with the aspirations of any person at this time, a move that could send wrong signals to the rest of the state and introduce some level of confusion in the politics of our dear state,” the statement said.

It added that, Governor Ikpeazu “is not thinking about the politics of 2023 now, because doing so will be tantamount to a technical abridgement of his own tenure and is capable of distracting him from the serious issues of governance in the state currently”.

According to the statement, the Abia chief executive had in response to Abaribe’s expression of interest in becoming the next Abia governor “stated that he is presently occupied with ensuring that some critical road projects are dealt with, especially, in Aba within this dry season window.”

Ikpeazu had also told Abaribe that the issue of his successor was beyond what he could single-handedly determine as some intervening factors, including divine factor usually comeinto play.

“The governor believes strongly that power comes from God and that the issues around power are too important and critical that God cannot leave it entirely in the hands of men. It was this philosophy that defined his own emergence as governor in 2015,” the statement added.

The statement further explained that Ikpeazu, being a democrat, “understands and respects the rights of every citizen,” including Abaribe’s, to their political aspirations.

“He(Ikpeazu) also firmly believes that when the time is right, the usual interplay of political forces on the one hand and a divine agenda on the other will put all issues around, who succeeds him to rest.”