ABIA 2019: IKPEAZU PROTESTS AT DEBATE AS OTTI SHINES
The gubernatorial debate on Tuesday in Umuahia, Abia State capital, organised by a group of online publishers and some broadcast media, under the auspices of “2019 Abia Governorship Debate”, turned rancorous when supporters of the governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, held up proceeding for close to 10 minutes to protest what they termed injustice.
It was the governor, himself, who paved the way for his restive supporters to charge at the moderators. Ikpeazu had been jolted from his seat by one of the moderators, who had called out that he had exhausted the time allotted to him to respond to questions. He protested and immediately a group of party people who had accompanied him to the debate, jumped to his defence and in the process creating an unsavory scene.
“He (the governor) should be given more time to answer the questions”, an angry voice rang out of the commotion that had become the banquet hall of the Abia Hotels, Umuahia, venue of the gubernatorial debate, which also featured Dr. Alex Otti, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Hon. Blessing Nwagba of SDP and Accord Party’s Barr. Emeka Uwakolam.
The debate was a straight confrontation between Dr. Alex Otti and Okezie Ikpeazu. According to a statement by the director media and publicity of Alex Otti Campaign Organisation, Kazie Uko, Otti drew the first blood when he looked at Ikpeazu in the eyes and told him unequivocally that he (the governor) was sitting on a stolen mandate.
“I won the governorship election in 2015 and the mandate was stolen”, Otti fired, as he opened his remarks on why he wanted to be governor of Abia State. Ikpeazu, however, did not controvert him.
Pushing further, the APGA candidate reminded the governor of his promise not to seek reelection, if he did not complete all projects started by his government and wondered if he was going to keep to his word now that it was certain that the Osisioma Bridge, which the governor had showcased as his landmark project, had become abandoned.
Ikpeazu, however, was cheeky in his response to Otti’s question. “Well, I’m going to run for re-election because the money I was supposed to use to complete the Osisioma Bridge, I have used it complete the Okobo Bridge, on the Abam-Arochukwu Road. At least, I have completed that one bridge, the only thing that is left is to do the road”, Ikpeazu responded to the amusement of some in the audience.
When the governor eventually had his opportunity to take a shot at Dr. Otti, he took two feeble punches. One, on the so-called Abia Charter of Equity and second on Otti’s time as chief executive officer at Diamond Bank.
Otti was resplendent in his response. He said: “I would have been surprised if after building the road that leads to Akwa Ibom State, from where we know that some people (apparent reference to Ikpeazu) ancestrally hail from, so thank you very much for doing the one going to Arochukwu.
“Now, on the issue of Diamond Bank, there is a transaction that’s going on, so I will not talk much about it. But I will like to remind him that banking business is not like government business, particularly in Abia state. I left banking in 2014, that’s five years ago. I can give an account of what I did in the four years that I stayed in Diamond Bank. Once I left, I left. It’s unlike what we find in some governments where a governor leaves and he doesn’t leave; he continues to manipulate his successor. I do not know what happened in Diamond Bank because I had left. But my records are very clear and they’re there to show”.
On equity, Otti replied: “Equity is important, particularly if you’re coming with clean hands. Abia State is in trouble. Abia is in comatose, so it’s like a man who’s on life support and a doctor shows up and he says he wants to know where the doctor comes from. We need to cure the state. We need to deal with the problems of the state and it goes beyond where somebody comes from ancestrally or where he comes from, by birth. We’re looking for competence, we’re looking for people who are straight, we’re looking for people who have skill, we’re looking for people who have past records of performance and we have seen four years. We are not impressed. Thank you very much”.
