PDP solidifies Igwe as Abia Deputy Governorship candidate
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The inner tussle for the position of the running mate for the PDP governorship candidature for Abia State has come to expected conclusion that the Hon Member representing Umunneochi constituency in the House of Assembly, Barr Okey Igwe should continue with his candidature as earlier designed.
Barr Igwe who has made substantial investment in the gubernatorial campaign of the party in Abia State suffered huge set back following attempts by desperate opportunists in the party to use the unfortunate demise of his late principal, Prof Uche Ikonne, to usurp dividends of his efforts.
With purported substitution of Barr Igwe as the Deputy gubernatorial candidate when the party convened to nominate replacement for the late guber candidate, the party had launched internal attrition war that that threatened its chances in the upcoming elections, with majority of the emerging factions pitching tent with Barr Igwe.
A surreptitious meeting which took place in Umunneochi council area over heated arguments over last minute substitution of longstanding Barr Okey Igwe ended in a brawl in which losses were sustained. Neither Barr Okey Igwe nor his associates were invited to the meeting.
The Oracle Today learnt that backdoor attempts to smuggle the name of certain Jasper Uche, chosen as a placatory puppet to placate the people of Umunneochi as replacement for Barr Igwe failed on hitting the criterion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The INEC had maintained that replacement was not longer possible after the candidature of the party’s guber candidates had progressed to dying minutes of the contest, explain that the law only permits emergency changes on an event of death.
Barr Igwe is still alive, healthy, fit and willing to drive his political ambition to become the next Deputy Governor of Abia State to conclusion. Thus, INEC rejected the substitution which was hatched by the Abia State structure of the party.
In trying the rescue the fate of the party in Abia State, the national body of the party swiftly intervened to restore sanity, urging INEC to revert to status quo by restoring Barr Igwe in his original position of running mate to the governorship candidate of the party in Abia State.
In the letter dated February 20, and signed by the National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, and National Secretary, Sen Samuel Anyanwu; the PDP affirmed Barr Okey Igwe the party’s ‘Abia State Deputy Governorship Candidate for the 2023 General Elections’ in line with its original nomination letter of July 2022.
“Following the death of Prof Uche Ikonne, the Party conducted a fresh primary election wherein Ahiwe Okechuckwu Ambrose emerged the winner. However, in submitting the name of Ahiwe Okechukwu Ambrose to the commission as its Abia State Governorship candidate, the Party mistakenly and inadvertently submitted the name of Uche Chidiebube Jasper as its Deputy Governorship Candidate.
“By this letter, the Party hereby affirms that Igwe Phillip Okey remains the Party’s Deputy Governorship Candidate for Abia State in the forthcoming election. The name of Uche Chidiebube Jasper mistakenly forwarded to the Party on the 10th of February, 2023 should be disregarded.
“Please note that the particulars of Igwe Phillip Okey earlier submitted to the Commission remain valid and should be acted upon by the Commission,” the PDP national leadership advised INEC.
The Oracle Today reports that the clandestine attempt to displace Barr Okey Igwe as Deputy Governorship Candidate of the PDP has shaken the fate of the party’s supporters in Abia State where opposition parties including the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) continued to harness disgruntled PDP loyalists.
Pundits wonder how the PDP would pick traction from where it stopped campaigns when the death of Prof Uche Ikonne doused the highly vigorous UchendiAbia campaign jointly driven by Barr Okey Igwe and late Prof Uche Ikonne.
However, with the abysmal performance of the prevailing Buhari administration of the Federal Government and the urgent need to rescue the country from rolling downhill, odd are still in favour of the PDP which hold incumbency and solid structures in the state.
