Following the declaration of Ikechi Emenike as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Abia State, a lot of twists and drama have been trailing primaries in the state.
When accreditation of voters was still going, Paul Ikonne and Uche Oga stormed out of Chidiebere Park, along Ugwunchara, Umuahia, venue of the Primaries.
At the end of the exercise, Emenike garnered 672 votes out of 892 votes cast by delegates in the APC state primaries, while Emeka Atuma, his close rival, polled 150 votes.
Others were as follows: Uche Oga, seven votes, Dan Eke 16, Paul Ikonne 23, while Obinna Oriaku, former commissioner for Finance, under Okezie Ikpeazu led administration, got 12.
Emenike, in his acceptance speech, gave God the glory and thanks for his victory adding that the battle is all over.
He appealed to all Abians to join him in the journey to rescue Abia and also grow the state.
“It has been a long and hard journey to rescue Abia. I need your cooperation in this onerous task to grow Abia” said Emenike.
He thanked members of APC for their support and assured them that come May, 29, 2023, he would assume the mantle of leadership as the Governor of Abia State.
“I accept this mandate from my people with humility. The time for Abia has come and we are restoring the state as God’s own state”, he said.
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But on that same day, a faction of APC led by Acho Obioma conducted parallel primaries where Uche Ogah emerged as another APC Governorship candidate in the state.
Oga noted that the National Working Committee of the party said the primaries should be direct where popularity of aspirants would come to play but rather the faction led by Ononogbu adopted the indirect, which is not transparent.
But before the APC state primaries took place, Alex Otti had for a few weeks dumped the party and joined the Labour Party with his supporters in droves.
The irony of the whole drama is that less than 24 hours after Ogah was reportedly pronounced as APC Abia Governorship candidate, Obioma, chairman of Ogah’s faction jumped the ship and abandoned Ogah to his fate.
Obioma, therefore found favour in Otti and joined his new found party, Labour Party.
Also in the gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) held in the state, Gregory Ibe, founder and chancellor of Gregory University, Uturu, who also abandoned People Democratic Party and joined APGA, emerged the candidate for the party in the state.
Ibe polled 283 votes to defeat Etigwe Uwa, who scored 148, Ijioma N Ijioma, a retired general, who garnered 86, while Chikwe Udensi came last with 12.
But while voting was going on at Kolping Society Centre, Umuahia, Udensi reportedly stormed out of the venue and reportedly went to Villa Roy Hotel, Mission, Umuahia with some of his supporters to hold parallel primaries where he was said to have won.
Ibe, in his acceptance speech, gave thanks to God for his faithfulness, grace and unfailing mercy.
He appreciated his fellow contestants for their determination to change the narrative of Abia through the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
“In the actual sense all are winners as I make bold to declare today that there is no victor no vanquished. I therefore extend my hand of fellowship to you my brothers as fellow winners and co-labourers and implore you to join me in the task of salvaging Abia from imminent collapse. As we begin the final journey of redeeming Abia, my doors remain open to receive and welcome those unique ideas that can help us realize the new Abia of our dream.
“Since it will not be an APGA affair alone, I therefore request all hands on deck for us to rewrite the story of our dear state. Irrespective of the party you are affiliated to, this is the time to think less of personal interests and more of our collective aspirations as a people destined by God for greatness,” said Ibe.
