Timi Frank, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday described the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu as a mole in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Frank made the allegation in response to Ikpeazu’s statement attacking him over his earlier remark that most PDP governors were not committed to the opposition politics in Nigeria.
He had claimed that most PDP governors are daily lobbying to be in the good books of President Muhammadu Buhari, hence they don’t talk on national issues affecting Nigerians negatively.
Frank’s statement followed the Supreme Court ruling that sacked Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP as Imo State Governor and installed Hope Uzodinma as the state’s governor.
Responding, Ikeazu in an article by Enyinnaya Appolos his Special Adviser on Media reminded the former APC chieftain that there was time for politics, and time for governance.
Appolos, also patiently outlined reasons the Governor had to join President Buhari in the London trip the day the PDP held its emergency NEC meeting in Abuja.
Reacting to the governor’s remark in another statement, Frank said rather than apologise for the misadventure, “the Abia state governor’s shallow defence as to why he chose to jet out with the President at the expense of his party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting buttressed the belief in some quarters that he is indeed an All Progressives Congress (APC) mole even as a PDP governor.”
The statement reads: “In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Queen Gertrude said: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”. She did this in reference to the insincere overacting of a character in the play.
“From that day to today, nothing has changed. Insincerity is most obvious in overly dramatic denials. And this is what we see with Okezie Victor Ikpeazu’s response to my candid observation.
“The popular saying that an old woman is always uneasy at the mention of dry bones manifested itself in the reply of the incompetent Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu to my statement I criticised him for hopping off to London with President Muhammadu Buhari in the midst of a serious national and political onslaught against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Imo State.
“Playing the ostrich, Ikpeazu pinned his trip with the President to the UK-Africa Investment Summit on the quest market his proposed Enyimba Economic City Project to foreign investors.
“Does a man go on a jamboree when his house is on fire? That is the question that Ikpeazu should answer rather than play acting in his protests that represent his guilty conscience.”
The Bayelsa born activist also cleared the air over the allegation made by the governor that he (Frank) was used and dumped by the APC saying: “Let it be known to the indolent Governor that I resigned from the All Progressives Congress and refused to hero-worship General Buhari when the APC derailed and began to pursue anti-people agenda rather than what they promised Nigerians. How can I then be compared to an Ikpeazu, whose sycophantic laugh almost tore his mouth while he was throwing himself at General Buhari, to secure his post gubernatorial future?
“For the records, I stood my grounds while in the APC and I resigned my position as a principled person and not because of any political gain. And since the governor talks about political worth and jobbing, perhaps it is pertinent to expose him at this juncture for who he truly is.
“That Ikpeazu calls himself a national leader of the PDP is self-delusional dream. Within the party, he is known for what he is, an unreliable person who would rather jamboree while there is fire at his doorstep. In case he does not know, Ikpeazu is as relevant to the PDP as the “P” in psychology.
“It is most unfortunate that in Ikpeazu’s little world and mindset, it is only with the President that he can get attention. this reflects his lack of initiative, drive and dynamism to push any project to profitability.”
On the reason why the governor traveled with the President, Frank believe that “projects such as Tinapa in Cross River state and the mechanised farm in Kwara state, sold themselves out to foreign investors on account of well-thought-out and executed marketing strategies which the governors of the states embarked on at the time and not because they carried empty briefcases on presidential trips looking for uninterrupted hours of snitching and mundane political theatrics with the President.
“One wonders the kinds of investors Ikpeazu is looking for in UK when he is one of the worst governor who doesn’t pay regular salary in his state.”
On why the governor is a mole in the PDP, Frank said Ikpeazu was among the PDP governors that gave General Buhari and the APC 25 per cent vote in return for 2nd term, “in short, Ikpeazu is a confirmed PDP by day and APC by night.
“The Abia governor capitulated when he posited in his reply that, ‘Much as Governor Ikpeazu is not responsible for Timi’s unguarded spleen, no leader would prefer to attend a party meeting to attending a Summit where his ideas and programs for his people will be beamed at the global stage.’
“If for the sake of argument we yield to this convoluted reasoning of his, is he also saying that that the PDP’s NEC was not worth the attention of his deputy? Clearly he was sending a clear message of disdain to the party to impress his paymasters.
“When I alluded to Ikpeazu as a political hatchet man and mole for the APC, no fact underscores this than the 2015 and 2019 presidential election results in Abia State.
“Can Ikpeazu who regards himself as a PDP national leader explain to Nigerians how General Buhari and the APC scored 13,394 votes against the PDP’s 368,303 in the 2015 presidential election – removing from the list of states that the APC had 25 per cent and then clearly explain to Nigerians, how in 2019 presidential elections, the APC and General Buhari scored 85,058 and PDP PDP scored a depleted 219, 698 votes?
“The simple answer to this eye-popping revelation is the liability Ikpeazu is to the PDP and the reason he is all cheeks in smile with the President and perhaps while he will continue to be a sacred cow at the Supreme Court.
“May it not be the lot of Abians and the PDP in particular that taxpayers money is being blown on the altar of presidential patronage and clandestine investor chase.
“Ikpeazu can catch his fun and be a political undertaker, however, the PDP and Abia people deserve more compassion.”
