Abia youths’ fault Ikpeazu, PDP over zoning of governorship to two districts

…Insist on Abia North

Some youths in Abia state yesterday faulted the state Governor,Dr Okezie ikpeazu and PDP for zoning the 2023 Governorship to two districts instead of Abia North alone.

They described the arrangement as weird and shorn of sincerity with the capacity to throw the ruling party into a destructive crisis.

The party through the state chairman,Hon Allwell  Asiforo Okere had announced the zoning of the governorship to Abia Central senatorial zone and Abia North senatorial zone.

But the youths under the aegies of Abia Youth Vanguard said the action was a smokescreen for the actualization of the self succession agenda of Ngwa people through Ikpeazu.

According to a statement issued in Umuahia by its chairman, Comrade David Onwuneme,if both the governor and PDP believe in the Abia charter of Equity, the Governorship should be zoned solely to Abia North because it is their turn.

“The zoning started in Abia North in 1999, with Orji Uzor Kalu,then it went to Abia Central in 2007 with TA ORJI after which it got to Abia South with the incumbent, Okezie Ikpeazu in 2015. Naturally therefore it should return to Abia North in 2023″, they argued.

They said it was strange that the zoning arrangements since 1999 had always been for one zone at a time and never two zones as announced by PDP.

According to them,it was also weird that Abia central which handed over to Ikpeazu just seven years ago is included for the 2023 contest because of the quest for self succession.

It drew the attention of the governor to the fact  that his predecessors were never unambiguous in their choice of successors with the Abia charter of Equity in mind.

” Orji Uzor Kalu publicly declared TA as his successor. TA did same by publicly announcing Ikpeazu as his successor. We expect the governor to follow suit by picking one person from Abia North as his preferred successor”, they insisted.

They said that when Ikpeazu told a delegation of Bende people who visited him that he will point the way, they expected him be explicit and not throwing the state into confusion and crisis.

His predecessors were explicit and unambiguous and that’s why the people followed them. You can’t point to a thick forest and expect us to follow sheepishly”, they pointed out.

They advised the governor to learn from what happened to GOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha of imo state when he tried to foist his son in law as his successor.

They argued that since the governor claims that his only visible achievement in the state in the last seven years has been peace,he should choose a successor from Abia North to sustain that legacy.

They warned that the continuing attempt by Ikpeazu and his hirelings to foist an Ngwa man as his successor would have a catastrophic consequence in the state.

” For him to avoid the impending chaos and for him to secure his political future,His Excellency should in the next 72 hours pick his successor from Abia North. That’s the way he should point to us and we follow”, the youths concluded