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The battle for Abia Government House gathered momentum yesterday as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Dr. Kelechi Anosike, served Governor Alex Otti a quit notice, declaring that his party had begun a movement to reclaim the state in the 2027 election.
Anosike, who spoke at the inauguration of the management team of his Campaign Council in Umuahia, also moved to confront one of the biggest issues likely to dog the PDP throughout the campaign—its 24 uninterrupted years in power before Otti and the Labour Party swept it out of Government House in 2023.
Rather than shy away from the party’s past, the governorship candidate sought to turn the issue against his opponents, arguing that many of the political actors blamed for the PDP’s years in government had since migrated to Labour Party, All Progressives Congress (APC) and other parties.
“When they tell you PDP killed Abia for 24 years, tell them that those actors are no longer in PDP. They are in Labour, APC, ADC, NDC,” Anosike said.
“This is a new PDP. The same party, new mindset, new focus, new direction,” he added.
His declaration threw up what is likely to become one of the major fault lines of the Abia governorship contest: whether the PDP can convince voters that it has sufficiently reinvented itself four years after its rejection at the polls, and whether Otti can persuade the electorate that his administration has delivered enough change to deserve another mandate.
Anosike said the inauguration went beyond putting a campaign organisation in place, describing it as the formal commencement of a movement to take power from the Otti administration.
“For me, we have started a journey. And the journey is to reclaim the soul and future of our state. A journey to end deceit and fraud in our state,” he declared.
“This is not just the inauguration of the campaign council. This is more like commencing a movement. A movement that believes in ‘People First, Abia Always’.”
Despite the sharp attack on the government, Anosike said the coming contest would be fought on ideas rather than insults and personal attacks. He said his campaign would challenge the incumbent administration on bread-and-butter issues, including hunger, unemployment, industrialisation, and opportunities for young people.
“We’re not giving them general campaign promises or rhetorics. We are going into specifics: that if, before now, you don’t have food to eat, when Anosike comes, you have more than enough to eat.
“If our youth don’t have opportunities, when Anosike comes, there will be opportunities everywhere, because we will establish, at least, three industries in one year. It is possible.”
He charged members of the campaign council to carry what he described as the party’s message of welfarism to “every local government, every village, every community, and every ward.”
Former Nigerian Ambassador to Argentina and Chairman of the campaign council, Empire Kanu, escalated the attack on Otti’s government, declaring that the Labour Party is merely a temporary occupant of Abia Government House.
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“PDP is not a new party. PDP is Abia, Abia State is PDP. Labour is just holding that position temporarily,” Kanu said.
“We knew what happened in 2023, and that mistake will never happen again. You have a very serious candidate in the person of this young man, Dr. Anosike. He is very, very ready.”
Kanu described the Otti administration and the ruling party as standing on “very, very shaky ground,” arguing that the PDP’s grassroots structure would prove decisive in the election.
Without a strong party structure, he said, “I don’t see how you can run.”
He consequently identified the wards as the main battlefield and charged campaign officials to deliver their respective areas.
“You know where we normally get our votes? It’s at the ward level. So that is where we should work. Once you deliver at the ward, we have won. You have been appointed to make sure that every ward in this state is delivered to PDP. We don’t want any excuse at all. By His grace, we are moving to Government House.”
The PDP also admitted that its own failings contributed to the loss of power in 2023. Director-General of the Campaign Council, Chief Obinna Nwachukwu, said the party had learnt from the mistakes of the last election and would approach the 2027 contest differently.
“We know why we lost the election because we were not intentional in the last election. And this time, we are going to be committed and intentional,” Nwachukwu said.
He made no secret of the party’s determination to regain power, saying its members were suffering from a “hunger for power” after three years outside Government House.
“PDP people have been eating and in the last three years, we are all hungry. It is not hunger for food, it is hunger for power. We want to return to power,” he said.
“Challenge us. You will be shocked if this is the same Abia State of yesterday.”
The emerging battle, therefore, presents both camps with contrasting records to defend. While Anosike must convince voters that the PDP seeking power in 2027 is different from the party that governed Abia for 24 years, Otti will face the electorate as an incumbent required to defend his administration’s record after four years in office.
The Campaign Council Management Team has Kanu as chairman, Nwachukwu as Director-General, and Ukpai Ukairo as secretary.
Abia PDP chairman and deputy governorship candidate, Elder Amah, was also present at the inauguration held at the Anosike Campaign Office on Aba Road, Umuahia, where members of the team were presented with PDP flags.
