Abia state Governorship election: PPA candidate serves Gov Orji quit notice

Governorship candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in Abia State, Chief Chikwe Udensi, has said the party will reclaim the state from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s governorship election.

The former Secretary General of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), who emerged as PPA candidate in the primary election conducted in Umuahia, Abia State capital on Wednesday, said the party would work with other parties to ensure that PDP relinquished power in 2015.

He stated that the governorship in the state belonged to PPA, as the party won the seat in 2007 before Governor Theodore Orji defected first to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) before joining the PDP.

He said the battle had begun for the PPA to retake Abia State, which he said PDP took in error, while promising that the journey, which the party started for the emancipation of Abia from what he described as the “forces of darkness” would be completed under his watch.

“Governor Orji should start preparing his handover note, which I will be taking on May 29, 2015 because PPA is going to take over Abia from the PDP and we are going to right the wrongs they did in the state,” he told the party’s supporters.

The governorship candidate said the people of the state were not happy with the PDP government n the state, stressing that the people would show their anger in 2015 with their votes.

He warned against any attempt to rig next year’s election in the state, stating that the people would resist any attempt to rig the election.

Udensi emerged the governorship candidate when the two other aspirants, Chief Ndukwe Ikoh and Chief Anya Kalu Anya, withdrew from the race.

When the state Chairman of the party, Prince Emeka Okafor, called out the names of the aspirants and asked them to address the huge crowd at the venue of the party’s congress, both Ikoh and Anya announced their withdrawal from the race, leaving Udensi as the sole aspirant.

The delegates, drawn from the 17 local governments of the state, therefore, endorsed Udensi as the governorship candidate, in an overwhelming voice vote, in the presence of officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who witnessed the conduct of the congress.

Udensi thanked Ikoh and Anya for withdrawing from the race in the interest of the party, saying what the two former aspirants did was worthy of emulation. He promised to work closely with them.

In his comments, Ikoh said he would now vie for the House of Representatives seat for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency from where he believed to represent his people better.

Meanwhile, there was jubilation in Aba, the commercial city of Abia, when news of Udensi’s emergence filtered into town.

Residents, who spoke with our Daily Sun said their joy stemmed from the fact that it was under a PPA government in the state that most of the roads in Aba were reconstructed and expressed optimism that another PPA government, under Udensi, would bring back the lost glory of the city.