Attack On Atiku, Okowa: “Wike On His Own” – Ikpeazu

By Charles Igbo

Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has drawn a borderline between his support for Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, and any fight against Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, respectively.

Ikpeazu is one of the Governor – allies of Wike who have since the Presidential Primary of the Party where Atiku beat Wike, and the loss of the Vice Presidential slot by the Rivers State Governor, waged a war against the leadership of the PDP, and distanced themselves from the Party’s activities, including the Presidential Campaigns.

Led by Wike, the four Governors, Ikpeazu, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo), are demanding that the National Chairman of the Party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, must step down for a Southerner because both he and Atiku come from the same Northern region.

But not a few people see Wike’s leadership of the team, and his open romance with the All Progressives Congress, APC, as selfish. They ask: If Atiku had chosen Wike as his running mate, would Wike have led a group to fight the Party over Ayu?

Would he have been, almost, categorical in his hints that Atiku would lose the 2023 Presidential election?

However, Ikpeazu has distanced himself from any fight against the aspirations of Atiku and Okowa.

Answering a question during an interview session, Ikpeazu said much as he aligns with Wike in the fight for fairness and equity in the PDP, he would not join him in any fight that would jeopardize the chances of Atiku and Okowa at the Presidential polls.

Ikpeazu: “I am a Party man. I am not going anywhere. I will remain in the PDP. But it is good that I am in a place where I can ask those questions about what my people will naturally confront me with.

“I am not going to support Wike to battle Atiku or Okowa. But I will support Wike in principle to demand the inclusiveness of the South-east, the South-south and the South-west.”

For record purposes, the National Secretary of the Party, Samuel Anyanwu, is from the South-east, while the Vice Presidential candidate is from the Igbo- speaking area of the South-south.

Ikpeazu, serving out his two term tenure as Abia State Governor, is running for a Senatorial seat under the PDP. His main challenger is the former Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who suddenly decamped from the PDP to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to enable him contest for the seat against Ikpeazu.

Abaribe had earlier stepped down from the Governorship race, under the PDP, when he got no support from Governor Ikpeazu.