The crisis rocking the Abia state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is taking a new dimension with the revelation by the General Manager of Traffic and Indiscipline Management Agency, Abia State (TIMAAS), Commander Bright Chinedu Ikeokwu that no 3 man Delegates’ election held in the state.
The party in the state has been grappling with self inflicted crisis that could lead to a major destructive implosion if not properly handled.
In a press statement signed by 7 out of 8 PDP governorship aspirants in Abia state at the party headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday “at the centre of the vexed issues is the obvious manipulation by a tiny segment of the State Executive Committee of the party to yield to plots at subverting the democratic process, which is geared towards achieving a predetermined goal of imposition at all levels.”
Speaking during a meeting with some party stakeholders at his home on Thursday, Ikeokwu said the leadership of the party in the state are to blame for the crisis in the party and called on Gov Okezie Ikpeazu to intervene to prevent the looming implosion.
Ikeokwu queried how few members of the party’s SWC would take the entire party for a ride trying to enforce a non existent delegates list on the party.
“We all know that the party never held any Ward Congress to elect the 3-man Adhoc delegates in Abia State. The two times it was supposed to hold, it never happened,” Ikeokwu said.
The TIMAAS boss had earlier warned governor Ikpeazu that the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State will collapse if Governor Okezie Ikpeazu goes ahead with his plan to pick a candidate from Ngwa as his successor in 2023 election
In a report by Vanguard on March 27, 2022, Ikeokwu said in the spirit of fair play, power should be allowed to rotate back to Abia north after the 8 years tenure of Governor Ikpeazu.
He noted that since 1999 when democracy was restored in the country, the governorship of Abia State, like other states, has moved from Abia North under Orji Uzor Kalu to Abia central under T. A. Orji and currently to Abia south under the present Gov Ikpeazu.
He added that in the spirit of Abia Charter of equity, which stipulates power rotation among the three Senetorial zones in the state, Governor Ikpeazu, being a prime beneficiary of the charter, should pick a successor from Abia north.
Mr Ikeokwu who said he decided to speak-up out of his love for the state, the governor and the PDP, and in his capacity as the head of the agency saddled with the responsibility to tackle indicipline, said that this rotational arrangement has engendered peace and harmony in the state and warned against undermining peace and security with a clannish agenda.
