There were jubilations in the Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State over the removal of the former deputy governor of the state and an in-law to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Chief Acho Nwakanma, as the chairman of the party’s screening panel for the South East zone.
A cross section of chieftains of the party has commended the national chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, for listening to the voice of reason to remove Nwakanma. The former deputy governor was replaced by Prof. Yusuf Dankofa.
Ayu had appointed Nwakanma as the chairman of the party’s governorship screening for the South East.
The situation caused misgivings among the PDP governorship aspirants in the state who accused Governor Ikpeazu of influencing the appointment of his in-law to disqualify some aspirants to make way for his anointed one, Professor Uche Ikonne. Before his removal, several photographs where Nwakanma had raised Ikonne’s hand as the anointed aspirant went viral on social media.
A PDP chieftain from one of the local government areas in Abia Central zone, Chief Ndubuisi Onwukwe, stated that by removing Nwakanma, the national chairman has restored the hope of party and saved the party from avoidable crisis.
He alleged that the former deputy governor was one of the Abia PDP stakeholders behind Ikonne’s ambition and wondered how he could have supervised a transparent governorship screening process
“The appointment of Chief Acho Nwakanma as the chairman of PDP governorship screening panel was an error. He was clearly appointed to do a hatchet job to disqualify some Abia governorship aspirants to make way for Professor Ikonne. The Governor knows that Ikonne is not popular, so he is employing all means to impose him as PDP candidate. Most of the PDP stakeholders are not happy with Ikpeazu for choosing Ikonne, a retired professor. Acho Nwakanma is from Abia state and an in law to the Governor, he was not fit for such appointment. The national chairman did well in listening to the protests from the party people.”
Another member of the party who pleaded not to be named said he foresaw Nwakanma’s removal as most of the governorship aspirants like the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, are capable of outsmarting the Governor and ensuring that the party conducts free and fair governorship primaries.
