Maybe God is finally at work to liberate Abia people from the misrule and stranglehold of the People’s Democratic party (PDP) since 1999. Maybe Ola Rotimi”s prognosis that those whom the gods want to destroy, they first drive mad has come true in Abia state. If not, there is no way both the PDP and GOVERNOR Okezie Ikpeazu could have contemplated making Prof Ikonne, the immediate past vice Chancellor of Abia state University as the flagbearer of the party for the 2023 Governorship election.

Making Ikonne the PDP candidate is an accident waiting to happen,a disaster with monumental consequences and a highway to failure.

First, Ikonne is not a politician in the real sense of the word. There are several PDP members who are aspirants and who have manifestly served the party. We should not be seen as ingrates and back stabbers, rewarding indolence and cronyism. Second, Prof Ikonne is an Ngwa man, from the same ethnic cleavage where the current governor hails from. Ngwa people want to actualize a self succession agenda which if successful, will see them holding on to power for 16 year against the letter of the Abia charter of Equity which prescribes zoning among the three senatorial zones of Abia North,Abia central and Abia South.

Thirdly and most importantly,Prof Ikonne is bereft of electoral values given his records of service at both Abia polytechnic and Abia state University where he was both the Rector and the Vice Chancellor. Many actually consider him to be a huge electoral liability. That explains why a section of the opposition has been celebrating since it became public knowledge that PDP is going to war with a blunt implement in the person of Prof Ikonne.

There is no doubt that the professor of optometry is an accomplished academic but describing him as an astute administrator will offend the sensibilities of many, especially his former workers who went home without salaries of between seven months and 12 months while he was in charge. Describing him as a liberal man will enrage those who hail from outside the Ngwa enclave. This is a man who reserved admission spaces for medicine and law for only Ngwa candidates when he was the VC of Abia state University. A clannish man like that can never win election outside Ngwa land.

At EFCC where Prof Ikonne had been a regular guest for years, the officials are wondering why Abia PDP cannot find a decent man to present as its candidate outside the one with such a baggage. Indeed the opposition is ready with a long list of litigations should the unthinkable happens that Ikonne scales through the primaries. So , it’s not such a question as to why people don’t like him but what the man has done with the little offices he held in the past. When he was pressuring to be reappointed as VC,we heard of donation of two hundred million naira to Ikpeazu when salaries had not been paid and was never paid. Can someone who priotises personal aggrandizement above collective welfare of the staff be ever trusted with state duties and resources?

Even among the governor’s trusted aides , Ikonne is not trusted. They see him as an imposition and they are going to sabotage him from within. We don’t want to talk about his age since we all pray to attain old age one day. But can a 71 year old man(official age), withstand the rigours of office of the governor? At a time we are yearning for a great leap from the mediocrity of the past, is Prof Ikonne our best in the circumstances? Certainly not. Ikpeazu and PDP should rethink if they want to win Abia in 2023.

Moses Olewangwa