Diaspora group backs Ikpeazu’s gov ambition in Abia

AHEAD of this weekend’s governorship elections holding across the federation, a group of Ngwa and Ukwa indigenes based in the United States has thrown its weight behind the emergence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, as the next governor of Abia State.

The non-profit organisation, Ngwa United Alliance (NUA), said the support stemmed from the gubernatorial hopeful’s track record of performance and competence, adding that he is better prepared for the task of governing the 23-year-old state.

Addressing sons and daughters of Ngwa and Ukwa extraction in Atlanta, Georgia, USA at the weekend, NUA’s chairman, Dr. Obinna Ubani-Ebere, who thanked Abians for voting massively for PDP candidates during the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, solicited same bloc ballots for Ikpeazu, whom he described as a “well-educated and highly accomplished Ngwa man whose heart truly lies in the equal development of Abia State when he resumes office as governor this coming Saturday.”

Ubani-Ebere, according to a press statement made available to The Guardian, pointed out that no Ngwa or Ukwa person has presided over the state since its creation from the old Imo State by the General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida administration on August 27, 1991 despite constituting about 60 per cent of the total population.

While stating that the hour has come to right the ‘injustice’ of the past by voting in the PDP standard bearer as the next chief executive of the state with the sobriquet, “God’s own state”, the NUA helmsman further reeled out the numeric strength of his people, disclosing that the Ngwa-Ukwa axis controls seven of the 17 local councils in the state.

Ubani-Ebere added: “ Dr. Ikpeazu has promised to modernise Aba, the heart of Abia State, and to ensure that its citizens and residents enjoy the full dividends of democracy.”