The people of Ukwa La Ngwa extraction of Abia State have resolved to retain the governorship seat of the state ahead of the 2023 general election.
We gathered that incumbent Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu hails from the extraction and is currently serving a second term in office which will end on May 29, 2023.
Rising from its inaugural meeting held in Okpuala Ngwa in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of the state, the people of Ukwa La Ngwa bloc who spoke through their Elders’ Council as contained in a communique issued to newsmen during the weekend in Umuahia, the state capital, also resolved that no son or daughter of the area should accept the position of deputy governorship from any party.
The communique signed by the leaders of the Elders Council, Dr. Max Nduaguibe and Chief Eric Acho Nwakanma, quoted the people of Ukwa La Ngwa as insisting on steering the governance of Abia for 16 years likewise the Old Bende extraction that took their turn.
They posited that the last two governors of the state, before the emergence of the current Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu in 2015 were from Old Bende, and each of them took an eight-year tenure, making it a total of 16 years by the area.
They further hinted that after the eight-year tenure of the incumbent governor, who happens to be from the old Aba zone, the zone would retain the governorship seat for another eight years, to make up for the 16 years tenure that was consumed by the old Bende bloc.
The people of the Ukwa La Ngwa extraction called for support from other parts of the old Aba zone to achieve the cause.
Harping further on the resolution of Ukwa La Ngwa bloc during an interview with newsmen, the member representing Isiala Ngwa North state constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Ginger Onwusibe, stated that the old Aba zone do not want the deputy governorship position, stating that 36 deputy governors can not be equal to one governor.
The Abia lawmaker called on all parties in Ngwa to keep up the agitation for power to remain in Ukwa la Ngwa land, adding that they should use every energy, as well as anything they could afford to drive the process of retaining power for 16 years, just like the old Bende bloc.
Onwusibe further added that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has performed excellently, compared to other past governors in the state.
In the same vein, a socio-political group, the Abia North Citizens Forum (ANCF), has stated that the use of threat and intimidation to stop some people from pairing with some others as deputy governorship aspirants is cheap and cowardly.
The group explained that Abia State has three senatorial zones and is structured on a tripod, warning that any attempt at returning to the regional arrangement amounts to a deformation of the tripod.
Recall that Abia State as created has three senatorial zones which are, Abia North, Abia South and Abia central with representatives in the National Assembly.
The Abia North Citizens Forum (ANCF), gave the warning in a statement signed by its Chairman, Amb. E. O Philips and issued on Sunday.
It partly stated, “the various critical meetings held by well-meaning Abians that led to the ceding of Abia governorship seat to Abia South in 2015 and 2019 was a product of concession and consensus-based on an agreement that the rotation principle was irrevocable.
“It is preposterous for any zone to renege on the said agreement. Any attempt being conceived in whatever form by any party to the agreement is not only a betrayal of trust, a dog eating its trust or tantamount to changing the goal post at the middle of March which is unethical and unprofessional.
It is only natural, fit and proper for the ration principle to take a natural course by returning to Abia North, now that the circle would be completed by 2023”.
Expressing concern at the current exchange of political brickbats by politicians and groups over who succeeds him in 2023, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had in a release by his Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka, made it clear that he is still in charge of the State and will not be stampeded out of office by people who want to alter the natural order of things.
While the Governor appreciates the rights of persons and groups to canvas their political ideas and preferences, he warned that timing is critical in these permutations and that there could only be one Governor at any particular time.
The Governor added that his preoccupation now is how to continue to deliver more people-oriented infrastructural projects for the people of Abia State, strengthen trade and commerce and keep our people safe, noting that the question of who succeeds him is definitely not what he is thinking about at the moment.
He appealed to politicians not to allow their rhetorics about 2023 threaten the peace and tranquility we currently enjoy in Abia State, and advised them to pray to God to give life and good health ahead of the politics of 2023, because only the living and the healthy will play politics by that time.
