Crisis appears to be looming in the Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as some party members are accusing Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of a plot to secretly enter into an agreement with the All Progressives Congress, APC, to destabilize the PDP in the state.
The reason for the alleged secret pact with the opposition in the state was due to the stiff resistance by PDP members for the governor to impose his preferred candidate as his successor in the 2023 governorship election after his alleged efforts to manipulate the delegate lists for the governorship primary was said to have been thwarted.
But in a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Onyebuchi Omemanka, said that the allegation was not true and was “coming from the pit of hell.”
According to the governor”s spokesman, “It is not today such rumours are coming out. They had even said that the governor will defect to the APC. Governor Ikpeazu is fully committed to the PDP and will work hard to see a peaceful transition whereby a PDP candidate will take over from him.”
A national officer of the PDP who spoke on the condition of anonymity had claimed that the plot to secretly support an APC candidate for the governorship election was with the knowledge of one of the governor’s aides.
Speaking to journalists on the sideline of a meeting of some PDP members in Abuja, the source claimed that Ikpeazu was jittery over the chances of his anointed candidate, a former Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University to win the party’s primary.
Recall that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the highest-ranking PDP office holder in the red chambers, who is from the same Senatorial zone as Governor Ikpeazu, has also indicated interest to contest for the Abia governorship seat.
The Senate Minority Leader appears to be enjoying the support of many Abia indigenes and PDP members as a result of his contributions to the senate.
The PDP stalwart alleged that Governor Ikpeazu and his allies are seriously negotiating with APC members in Abia to ensure he actualizes his ambition of installing the next Abia governor.
He, however, claimed that the PDP delegates and even Abia citizens are totally against Ikpeazu’s choice of candidate in the elections because of obvious reasons.
The alleged plan the Source said, has a link to the failed three attempts to manipulate the three-man ad-hoc delegates primaries.
The source claimed that the governor’s quest to enthrone his preferred Ngwa man to succeed him is such a big project to him that he is willing to ruin PDP to ensure he succeeds.
“There are strong indications that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has perfected plans to impose an APC candidate of Ngwa origin to take over from him having realized that his anointed candidate won’t win the PDP ticket for the governorship.
“We gathered and have it in good authority that Governor Ikpeazu and his henchman (names withheld) are in negotiations with an APC candidate to jeopardize other PDP candidate’s chances of winning the ballots should Ikpeazu’s anointed candidate be defeated at the primaries.
“The plans began when his efforts to impose the three-man delegates, by all means, didn’t go as he planned.
“Part of his agenda to destabilize PDP is to engineer one of the PDP aspirants to go to court to challenge the outcome of the primary, which may cause the party to be disqualified and with no one getting the party ticket.
“As much as the Governor is entitled to anointing a candidate, it is a pity he is out to do that even at the detriment of his party.”
Vanguard
