Abaribe Declares Guber Ambition

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has formally declared his interest to become the governor of Abia State in 2023, saying that he would be the governor that Abians would be proud of.

He made his intention known yesterday at Umuahia, Abia State capital, when he visited the state secretariat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to consult with the expanded executive caucus of the party.

“I am going to be not just a governor but the governor of Abia people irrespective of where the person comes from,” he said.

Abaribe, who was a deputy governor at the onset of the present democratic dispensation contested for the governorship position in 2003 but could not unseat his former boss, Orji Uzor Kalu.

But in 2007 Abaribe was elected Senator for Abia South Senatorial District and has retained the seat ever since.

He told the Abia PDP leaders that he has the requisite capacity, experience and knowledge to govern Abia, and therefore asked the party leaders and stakeholders to “consider me as that person that will lead the party to victory in 2023” governorship poll.

The Senate Minority Leader, who is regarded as “the voice of the voiceless” because of his fearless disposition to speak truth to power, harped on the need for PDP to give ticket to “a winnable candidate” in order to sustain its control of Abia.

He recalled that the PDP lost the 2015 general election due to complacency in spite of the fact that it had everything going for it, warning that Abia PDP should guard against complacency in 2023.

The Abia South Senator harped on the need for the party to field the right candidate and not take things for granted in the belief that being the ruling party would guarantee victory irrespective of the popularity of the candidate.

He said that with the signing of the Amended Electoral Bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari “the game has changed” hence it would no longer be business as usual in the ways and means that elections are won.

“You can’t rig any more. If you want to win, you win very well,” he said, noting that Section 84 of the Electoral Act which provides for electronic voting and transmission of results has put paid to rigging.

On the propriety of angling to succeed his kinsman, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the Abia South Senator said that that should not be a problem but rather what should be of utmost concern is to get the right person to do the job irrespective of where such a person comes from.

The state chairman of Abia PDP, Hon. Asiforo Okere, in his response lauded Senator Abaribe for all the interventions both local and international he has made for the people of Abia who had sought his help.

He promised that the party would provide a level playing field for all aspirants, adding that “nobody should do anything or allow his personal ambition to destroy the party.”

“All we owe all aspirants is equal opportunity,” he said.