Abaribe, others kick as the Philippines trained Optometrist, Uchenna Ikonne emerges as the choice of the PDP stakeholders in tomorrow’s governorship primary of Abia State.
There are indications that stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Abia State have endorsed the aspiration of Prof. Uchenna Ikonne, a Professor of Optometry and former Vice-Chancellor of the Abia State University, Uturu.
It was gathered last night that ahead of the gubernatorial primaries of the PDP in the state scheduled between tomorrow and Thursday, leading party figures in the state decided to settle for Ikonne after a strong argument by the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu- led cabinet members on the need to give every part of the state a sense of belonging.
A leader of the party in the state stated last night that although Ikonne, is from the same Abia Central as Ikpeazu, he is from the Old Aba Division, not the Ngwa Bloc, where the present governor comes from.
“We realized that even if the Abia Central Senatorial district is still in power now, giving the ticket to Ikonne would just mean reversing the flow of the zoning principles in the state. It means, having gone round, Abia North to South and now Central, the central is starting the process again. That is what real equity is about. We cannot continue to talk about zoning between the three zones without thinking of the old blocs in the state”, he said.
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A government House Source however said that the PDP was not unconscious of the strength and weakness of the party in the state. He said that the party is weak in the North, dominated by the All Progressives Congress(APC) led by former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu. The party is strong in the South Senatorial District, led by former Governor Theodore Orji and in the Central now.
“We know that Kalu came into power from the Old Bende Bloc; Orji came from the Old Umuahia Bloc and Ikpeazu is from Ngwa Land. What happened to the Old Aba Division, now merged into the Central District? Those are the considerations”
It was however gathered that some aspirants in the party are not happy with the decision and may opt-out of the process. One of such is the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who it was learnt has decided not to participate in the primaries.
“We expect them to address a joint press conference today(Tuesday or Wednesday) to say they are not going to participate. They believe the system is skewed for Ikonne to emerge”.
Ikonne, born in Agburuike, Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North, Abia State, attended Ngwa High School in Aba of Abia State. He studied Optometry at Manila Central University, Philippines. He also graduated from a specialist master’s degree programme in Hospital Administration at St. Jude College, also in the Philippines, and on his return to Nigeria in 1985, served as consulting optometrist at the Park Lane General Hospital, Enugu, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Environmental Health Science from Abia State University.