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By Doris Obinna
The suspected plan to breach the power rotation understanding in Abia State may backfire on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as aggrieved members of the party from Abia North senatorial district are gearing up to support another political party if they are denied governorship ticket for next year’s election.
Members of the PDP from the senatorial district are also working to get their counterparts in Abia Central and Abia South senatorial zones, who support power shift, to join them if they have to withdraw support for PDP.
There has been contention over which zone should produce the next governor, with Governor Ikpeazu and his Ngwa kinsmen plotting to ensure that an aspirant from Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area becomes PDP candidate, instead of allowing power to shift to Abia North.
The governor, who is from Obingwa Local Government Area, in Ngwaland of Abia State, is said to be determined to have a successor from Isiala Ngwa, another Ngwa area. Based on power shift arrangement, Abia North is supposed to produced next governor, having started rotation with former governor and senator representing Abia North, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, in 1999. Former Governor Theodore Orji, from Abia Central, took over from Dr. Kalu. He was succeeded by Ikpeazu, from Abia South in 2015.
Competent sources told Daily Sun that members of PDP from Abia North, as a fallback measure should Governor Ikpeazu succeeds in foisting his kinsmen as candidate, are preparing to mobilise their people to support another party that would respect the rotation arrangement.
The political parties positioning themselves to benefit from the anticipated action against PDP are the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Sources revealed that the expected desertion of PDP will be the last ditched effort by Abia North stakeholders to ensure the respect of rotation arrangement, suspecting that Governor Ikpeazu and his kinsmen are bent on breaching it.
Daily Sun gathered that Abia North is uncomfortable with what they consider as orchestrated plan to intimidate them and deny them 2023 governorship.
It was learnt that the state government has been threatening Abia North PDP members over their resistance to Ikpeazu’s succession plan. In January when Abia North PDP planned a solidarity march in Umuahia to drum support for power shift to the zone, the state government warned them not to dare or they will be treated as enemies of the state. The solidarity march was called off.
One of the PDP members from Abia North, who pleaded anonynity, revealed that working against PDP will be the last option for people from the area.
“We from Abia North have been supporting PDP, but will not hesitate to leave the party and mobilise our kinsmen to withdraw support if we are denied what is due to us. Nobody should play God, thinking we are helpless. We have options, one of which is to work against PDP if the governor fails to adhere to the same rotation arrangement he benefitted from.”
He said APC and APGA are waiting in the wings for developments in PDP, revealing: “Let’s watch and see what the governor will do eventually. If our brothers from Ngwa feel they will fight the rest of Abia, goodluck to them. The good thing is that other stakeholders from the other two senatorial districts support Abia North’s demand for justice.”
Daily Sun gathered that oppositin to the plan to breach the rotation arrangement is swelling with half of Abia Central, made up of the Umuahia clan of the state and part of Abia South, made up of Ukwa area, in support of power shift to Abia North next year.
Former Governor Orji and senator representing Abia Central last week said power should rotate to Abia North after Ikpeazu.
It was gathered that before going public, Senator Orji had advised Governor Ikpeazu, in a private meeting, to respect the rotation arrangement when he got hints that the Ngwa clan was pushing the governor to breach it.
To press home his position, it was learnt that Senator Orji thereafter took a former state chairman of the PDP, ex- national official of the party and a businessman/party chieftain, to visit Governor Ikpeazu.
In the meeting, Senator Orji was said to have reiterated his position that the governor should jettison any plan that will breach the rotation arrangement. He told the governor that he brought the other three PDP chieftains to be witnesses, it was gathered.
Apparently suspecting that his advise fell on deaf ear, Senator Orji decided to let all PDP stakeholders in Abia know his position last week, in a meeting with chieftains of the party from the 17 local governments of the state.
Senator Orji had said his position was based on equity and justice.
Governor Ikpeazu’s kinsmen, under the aegis of Ukwa-la-Ngwa Council of Elders, had attacked Senator Orji, accusing him of trying to undermine the governor.
A statement signed by Dr. Max Nduaguibe, on behalf of the elders, said Ikpeazu should be allowed to chose his successor.
They threatened to “confront anyone standing in their way to retain power beyond 2023,” while warning Senator Orji to “steer clear and not challenge the enormous powers of a sitting governor.”
Declaring that “nothing will debar Governor Okezie Ikpeazu from having a say and hand in who succeeds him,” the Ukwa/Ngwa elders urged the governor “not to be intimidated into abandoning the legitimate aspirations of Ukwa la Ngwa of Umunneato from producing the Governor of Abia State come 2023.”
Reacting to the Ukwa/Ngwa elders’ position, a PDP chieftain from Abia Central said, “men of goodwill and conscience will not fold their arms and allow Ngwa people to do self-succession. There is no way we can allow power to remain in Ngwaland after Ikpeazu.”
He cautioned Ngwa politicians in PDP to ensure equity by not supporting Governor Ikpeazu, saying that what is happening currently was the fear those who opposed power shift to Abia South expressed in 2015.
“In 2015, when Senator Orji insisted that power rotation should be respected and that his successor would come from Ngwa, many people opposed him for the fears that Ngwa people may not respect subsisting agreement. See what is happening. This proves that the fear was founded,” he said.
He expressed regrets that at a time when the Ngwa side of Abia Central will take the senatorial seat, Ngwa people still want to hold onto the governorship in the same zone.
He accused the Ngwa clan of suppressing Ukwa part of their senatorial zone, only to claim they are one when it is time to agitate for something.
Daily Sun gathered that member representing Isiala Ngwa North/ Isiala Ngwa South in the House of Representatives, Hon Darlington Nwokocha, may vie for PDP ticket for Abia Central, while Gov Ikpeazu may go for Abia South senatorial ticket if Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who is also from Obingwa LGA as he, goes ahead to contest for governor.
