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Crisis appears to be looming in the Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as some party stakeholder have accused Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of a plot to secretly enter into an agreement with the All Progressives Congress, (APC), to destabilise the PDP in the State.
According to these stakeholders, the reason for the alleged secret pact with the opposition in the state was due to the stiff resistance by PDP members for the governor to impose his preferred candidate as his successor in the 2023 governorship election after his alleged efforts to manipulate the delegate lists for the governorship primary was said to have been thwarted.
But in a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Onyebuchi Omemanka, said that the allegation was not true and was ‘coming from the pit of hell.’
According to the governor’s spokesman, ‘It is not today such rumours are coming out. They had even said that the governor will defect to the APC. Governor Ikpeazu is fully committed to the PDP and will work hard to see a peaceful transition whereby a PDP candidate will take over from him.’
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A national officer of the PDP who spoke on the condition of anonymity had claimed that the plot to secretly support an APC candidate for the governorship election was with the knowledge of one of the governor’s aides.
While speaking to journalists on the sideline of a meeting of some PDP members in Abuja, the source claimed that Ikpeazu was jittery over the chances of his anointed candidate, a former Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University to win the party’s primary.
The Eastern Updates recalls that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the highest-ranking PDP office holder in the red chambers, who is from the same Senatorial zone as Governor Ikpeazu, has also indicated interest to contest for the Abia governorship seat.
The Senate Minority Leader appears to be enjoying the support of many Abia indigenes and PDP members as a result of his contributions to the senate.
The PDP stalwart alleged that Governor Ikpeazu and his allies are seriously negotiating with APC members in Abia to ensure he actualizes his ambition of installing the next Abia governor.
He, however, claimed that the PDP delegates and even Abia citizens are totally against Ikpeazu’s choice of candidate in the elections because of obvious reasons.
