A Huge Challenge to Opposition

It is no longer news that since the creation of Abia State in 1991, no person from Abia South has become governor of the state. So, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came up with the notion that it is the time for the zone to produce the governor of the state, there were ovations that deafened the ears.

When the party elected Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu (PhD) on December 8, 2014 during its primaries as its party gubernatorial flagbearer, the people of the state showed unprecedented interest in him. That primaries were well conducted and adjudged the best in the recent times.

Knowing that the issue of zoning will play a major role in the general election, contenders in other political parties who will contest alongside Ikpeazu, are showing expression of jittery, owing to the mammoth support that Ikpeazu has been garnering, irrespective of the campaign of calumny that the phony All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, has been staging against the humble and humane Ikpeazu.

Otti and his ilk in their political brigandage and brickbat have characterised Ikpeazu as a stooge. But Ikpeazu has cleared the air on this, saying, “I had my doctorate degree before my 30th birthday. I have taught in four universities, including being the external examiner of master's degree students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. It is not possible for someone to think of me as a stooge. All this can only exist within the realms of political propaganda.

“Almost every candidate in the race was once in the PDP, so apparently they all wanted to be stooges. They started singing different tunes when the PDP people said, “we want change but we want to change into certainty not into darkness” and the civil servants said, “we want someone who can keep our jobs and pay us, not someone who will do right-sizing or down-sizing and retrench us at the end of the day.”

Ikpeazu added that, “There is no governor in Nigeria that is anybody's stooge. And if you played a role in canvassing for votes or helped a governor to be elected, you can't expect the governor to be your stooge. You can only bring ideas that are beautiful on the table and if it falls into the main frame of a focused administration.

“Abia people know that I am the only person that is humble enough to entertain all shades of opinion, logic and suggestions. If your logic is superior we will go and test it. If mine is superior you go with me. I am not coming with any airs of arrogance. I am humble enough to say that I need the support of the people of Abia and hopeful that they will give me.”

Abia people are all for Ikpeazu. Otti who has been making noise, our people are not even sure who the candidate of the APGA is, because Otti came through the backdoor and arm twisted Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba who has since gone to court of competent jurisdiction to challenge the fact that Otti came into the party through the dark and backdoor.

But where is Otti from? An analyst recently wrote, “Where is Alex Otti from? Is he from Arochukwu (Abia North) or from Aro-Ngwa (Abia Central). Some say he was born in Arochukwu but grew up in Ngwa, while others claim he was born in Ngwa but grew up in Arochukwu, with this ambiguity, either way, he is certainly not favoured by the zoning permutation.”

And assuming Otti is favoured by the zoning formula, how does he expect that Abia people will elect such a man with a pedigree problem? It's obvious that Abia State will have better dividends of democracy with Ikpeazu from the good taste of them, they have been enjoying under the leadership Governor Theodore Orji.

Ikpeazu knew about this when he described the governor as a gentleman in an interview recently. In short, in Ikpeazu's words, “The governor has enormous goodwill and he has carried himself as a gentleman. He has a lot of respect among the elders, and the common people of Abia. He is a huge challenge. But I know that by the time the people understand my style, the difference will show. I will try to be as meticulous as Orji but I will run faster because I am younger.”

Ikpeazu said that the first plan he has if elected as governor is Abia people. Hear him: “Abia is peopled by people with capacity in various areas. Our human capital is second to none and we are the best traders and very good in commerce. We are also very good with the things we can do with our hands. So in the years ahead we want to leverage on these advantages that God has given us to make sure that the economy of Abia rests on strong pillars of trade and commerce, small and medium scale enterprises.

“Of course we are in oil and gas but we want to let the advantage of oil and gas recedes to the background because we are just marginal producers. So oil will not be on the front burner of our economic decisions in the days ahead. We have another advantage. If you look at Aba for example, the city is at the confluence of about seven other cities in the South-East and South-South. The city is about 30 minutes drive to Ikot Ekpene, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Umuahia among others.

“The strategic location of this city makes it what sugar is to ants and it attracts people. So we must leverage this strategic geographical location of Aba to place world class infrastructure around Aba so that we can return trade and commerce and build industrial clusters using the German model. What I mean by that is the apprenticeship system where we have family line businesses. But government must intervene in terms of giving access to world class finishing and equipment so that there can be mass production, finished products that can compete for space in shops in top shops in European markets.”

Ikpeazu as the PDP candidate will do creditably well as governor. He is not in this contest to run anybody aground as other contestants like Otti are wont to doing. One Martin Eze in a recent article published across the divides of media spectrum in the country wrote that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is the only candidate that is sure of a hundred percent vote from a political zone, the Abia South.

.Hart writes from Lagos

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Articles by Madubuko Hart