A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State, Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, has said the party will lose the 2023 governorship election if it fails to zone its ticket to Abia-North Senatorial zone.
Ogbonnaya also advised Prof Uche Ikonne, alleged to have been anointed by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as a successor to jettison his ambition to contest the 2023 election.
He revealed that he had advised Ikonne, against his ambition the day he came to consult with him in his residence in Umuahia the state capital.
Ogbonnaya, who spoke to a select journalists on Monday, maintained that he would utilise all available resources within his disposal to ensure that no Ngwa man will become the next governor of Abia State come 2023.
Ogbonnaya had been seen in a viral video pouring libation, saying that no “Ngwa man will become the next governor of the state” on Saturday.
He said “Prof Ikonne came to my house with his brother and said he was consulting to become the next governor of Abia State; I said which governor? To do what? What are you going to do?
“Ikonne is not a party man and does not know what politics entails. The Abia Charter of Equity demands that power should move to Abia North in 2023.
“Ikonne during his tenure as Vice Chancellor of the Abia State University Uturu and the provost of Abia State Polytechnic Aba, wrecked the two institutions and cannot be allowed to do same to the state entirely.
“The day Ikonne came to my house to consult me, his hands were
shaking but he claimed the shaking was due to moving around and consulting with people. I wondered the stamina he will he use to govern Abia State if he was already shaking due to consultation.
“The Peoples Democratic Party will fail in Abia state, if the governorship ticket is given to the people of Ngwa.
“If the leadership of the party is going ahead to do what they are doing by leaving the governorship to Ngwa or Abia-Central of Ngwa extraction, PDP will fail.”
He noted that the issues erupting because of the zoning has become a problem to the party as some of the governorship aspirants were leaving the party.
“Now we have a problem. Some of the governorship aspirants are leaving the party and when my friend handed over the decision-making of the party to Tony Ukasoanya, I told him he was digging the grave of this party.
“A man that has spent his future 30 years ago, that has nothing to offer again, that you are giving responsibility? appoint him an elder of the elders council of the PDP when the constitution stipulates how we should elect our chairman, you appointed him, let us see what will happen,” he stated.
He pointed that some of the key players in the decision-making had nothing to lose or regret but he did as he was keen on seeing the future blossom for his children.
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