Abaribe faults Abia PDP on zoning, exclusion from 2023 guber race

Youths issue 72-hour ultimatum to pick successor from Abia North

Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, yesterday, faulted resolution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which excluded him from contesting the 2023 governorship poll, as it zoned the position to Abia North and Abia Central Senatorial districts.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Abaribe faulted the claim by chairman of PDP in the state, Alwell Asiforo, that the party made the resolution after consultations with leaders and stakeholders at a meeting of the State Working Committee.

By the zoning arrangement, Abaribe stands disqualified, since he hails from Abia South Senatorial District. But when The Guardian sought his opinion on the matter, Abaribe insisted that it was obvious that the purported statement by Aniforo was devised to exclude him (Abaribe) from contesting.

Describing the zoning as an imposition, he urged Abia people, who desire to end imposition, to disregard it based on the fact that, while any member of PDP had the right to support anybody for any elective position, it should not be to the exclusion of any other member.

Citing section 42(2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, he maintained that nobody could exclude him from contesting the 2023 elections in Abia State, which he expressed confidence of winning, adding: “Only Abia people will decide who will be their governor in 2023.”

He further urged all PDP members and Abia citizens to remain calm and participate in the forthcoming congresses and primaries where their voices will be heard “as we dismantle the cabal that want to keep Abia people subjected to more years of imposition.”

BESIDES, the Abia Youth Vanguard (AYV) has rejected the Abia State PDP zoning of the 2023 state governorship position to Abia North and Central senatorial districts, describing it as a smokescreen for the actualisation of the succession agenda of Ngwa people and kinsmen of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

In a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday by its chairman, Comrade David Onwuneme, it said it was weird to include Abia Central, which handed over to Ikpeazu seven years ago in the 2023 contest due to the quest for self-succession.

Arguing that since Ikpeazu usually claims that his only visible achievement in the state in the last seven years has been peace, he should choose a successor from Abia North to sustain the legacy.

The group insisted that Ikpeazu and his cohorts continued attempt to foist an Ngwa kinsman as his successor would have a catastrophic consequence in the state, adding: “For him to avoid the impending chaos and secure his political future, the governor should pick his successor from Abia North in the next 72 hours.”