The outgoing Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, has revealed how he predicted the effects of the political popularity of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on the main opposition Party, People Democratic Party, building up to the 2023 general elections in the country.
“That Peter Obi effect, I predicted it and told my party. I even volunteered that reasonable politicians should not ignore what Peter Obi was doing,” he said.
The governor, who claimed he did not personally campaign against the former Anambra State governor, said all he wanted was a president from the southern region of the country.
It would be recalled that Obi left PDP, shortly before the primary election of the party, which produced Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the party in the last election.
Meanwhile, both Atiku and Obi, lost the election to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who had the highest score of 8,794, 926 votes, to defeat his two major contenders from the PDP and the LP respectively.
The outcome of the election, Atiku and Obi have since rejected, with both claiming to have won and apapproachinghe tribunal to upturn the result.
However, numerous opinions have predicted that, if Obi was in the PDP, his political weight combined with Atiku’s, would have unseated the ruling APC from the seat of power.
On Peter Obi’s effect after the election, Ikpeazu said, “What would happen going forward will be determined by how Peter Obi manages the groundswell of support that he had gathered. How is he going to funnel this towards an agenda that can eventually materialize in his dream?”
Ikpeazu was one of the five PDP governors, who are being referred to as G5, who did not support the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar. said he has no regret about being part of the group.
“I think that (being part of G5) is one of the most brilliant decisions I have taken as a politician,” he said.
The governor’s choice of candidate, Ahiwe, lost the Abia governorship election while Ikpeazu himself also lost his bid to represent Abia North Senatorial District in the National Assembly to the incumbent Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Reacting to his loss, Ikpeazu said if losing the elections was a sacrifice for his principled position for the presidency to return to the South, he was okay with it.
