Abia Guber: Ikpeazu Asserts Professor Oti Compromised; Points At Gifts She Received; Abia Elder Tackles Him

By Charles Igbo

“You know that bribe can come before or after the event. If I tell you do this, or if this is the outcome, this is what you get, it is an inducement. It is, also, an incentive to behave in a certain way. So, could this be a fulfilment of a promise that if this is the outcome, this is what will happen? I think it is unprecedented” – Ikpeazu on gifts received by Professor Oti after the Election

There seems to be no end to the outcome of the Abia State Governorship election held on 18th March 2023.

In the election which the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,  Returning Officer was Professor Nnenna Oti, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, the candidate of the Labour Party, Alex Oti, won, defeating the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the preferred Candidate of the Governor of the State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.

It is widely assumed that the uncompromising stand of Professor Oti, was what helped the LP Candidate to win. According to Oti she refused to be blackmailed, intimidated, and/or bribed. She said she rejected all because of ”the mother and Pastor” in her.

She has since, then, been celebrated, even by Presidential Spokesperson, Femi Adesina, and is now held as the poster girl for not just the much-criticised 2023 General Elections, but especially, for Nigerian women.

FUTO students and Staff gave her a heroic welcome on her return from Abia. And in appreciation, Professor Oti has been showered with,  at least, one luxury car and millions of Naira by appreciative Abians.

But Ikpeazu, who lost his Senatorial bid, and, also, failed in producing his successor, is crying foul. He says that Professor Oti was compromised. He has challenged her to name those who tried to bribe her. And more importantly, Ikpeazu  queries the story behind the gifts Oti received in appreciation of her sterling performance as the Abia Governorship Election INEC Returning Officer. He more than hinted that those gifts could be in fulfilment of promises made to her before the election. He insinuates she was bribed for the job she did.

Governor Ikpeazu: “You know that bribe can come before or after the event. If I tell you if you do this, or if this is the outcome, this is what you will get, it is an inducement. It is, also, an incentive to behave in a certain way. So, could this be a fulfilment of a promise that if this is the outcome, this is what will happen.  I think it is unprecedented.”

He accused Professor Oti of betraying his confidence in INEC because of her actions “during and after the election.”

“Oti clearly came to execute a ‘hatchet job’ against the PDP in the State considering her utterances after the election”, Ikpeazu told Journalists in Umuahia. Otherwise, he asked,

Why she, allegedly, participated “in the victory dance of the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Dr. Alex Otti, through her actions after the election.” Her participation, Ikpeazu opined, is a “contradiction of the expected neutrality of INEC officials.”

Ikpeazu also emphasised that he had never met the Professor before, and does not even have her phone number.

Ikpeazu: “I wish I knew those who bullied her. I think she has been making too much noise out of nothing. The Returning Officer’s duty is essentially to tally results already collated from the wards through the Local Government and declare them. She can’t change results because she has no right to do that unless she went ahead and did something like that.

“But her reactions have betrayed the fact that she was overly excited about something. When you come to that kind of position dispassionately, whatever the outcome should not excite you.

“But the victory dance she participated in and her statements which are akin to confessions have betrayed the fact that she came for a hatchet job. It could be to reject or accept some results.

“I want the world to know that she is celebrating what she has no right to. I have never met her before; I don’t have her telephone number but I’m aware that if she came to do the right thing, she has no right to change anything. In fact, she has no right to even reject results because those results were generated from the polling units and wards.

“Her celebration is unfortunate and unbecoming of somebody who was given that kind of responsibility at that level.”

Commenting on the much publicised gifts of a vehicle and cash showered on Professor Oti by a couple of appreciative Abians, the Governor said: “You know that bribe can come before or after the event. If I tell you if you do this or if this is the outcome, this is what you will get, it is an inducement. It is also an incentive to behave in a certain way. So, could this be a fulfillment of a promise that if this is the outcome, this is what will happen. I think it is unprecedented, I don’t know where this has happened in Nigeria before.”

Ikpeazu is a member of the G5, a rebellious group of five PDP Governors, led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who fought the PDP and Atiku Abubakar, its Presidential Candidate. Many believe that their anti-party, anti-Atiku stance cost the PDP the Presidential Election. But it also cost the Governors – Samuel Ortom, Benue, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu, and Ikpeazu their aspirations. The three lost their Senatorial bids to either the LP or APC.

Only Governor Seyi Makinde, Oyo State, a member of the Group, succeeded in his second term bid.

Said an Abia PDP Chieftain who pleaded anonymity, “Ikpeazu should blame his woes on his poor performance in office and his ill-advised romance with Wike and company, not on the very disciplined Professor Oti. Most Abians foretold his fate. The Peter Obi-effect worsened his case.”