Abia governorship seat: Isuikwuato must produce Ikpeazu’s successor, say founding fathers

As the controversy rages over which zone in Abia State will produce the successor of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in 2023, a group of Abia elders under the aegis Abia Founding Fathers has zoned the governorship seat to the Isuikwuato axis of the state.

Isuikwuato Local government Area (LGA), formerly Isuikwuato District is presently in Abia North Senatorial.

Elders made up of HRM Eze Ezo Ukandu, erstwhile Chairman, Abia State Traditional Rulers’ Council, HRM Eze Nwabiarije Enogwe, Chairman, Ukwa La Ngwa Traditional Rulers Council, Sir B.R.C.Okoro, High Chief Bernard Chukwu, Dr Onyike James Onyike, former Commissioner in East-central State and others said in a communiqué after its meeting in Umuahia on Wednesday that the rightful area to produce the next governor of Abia State in 2023 is Isuikwuato district.

In the communiqué endorsed by the group, chaired by Dr Onyike James Onyike, the elders called on any political party that wants to field a governorship candidate for the election in the state in 2023 elections to ensure that they field a candidate from that district.

In a six-page communiqué made available to newsmen after their meeting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, titled “Abia State Politics 2023, In The Spirit of The Charter of Equity”, contended that governorship candidacy in Abia State should be based on merit, veritable track records of achievements in a public or private capacity, pointing out integrity and the ability to take the critical decision at critical times should be an added advantage.

According to them, “Abia is one, if not the only state in the federation endowed with a fundamental document, ‘The Charter Of Equity’, on the good governance by the founding fathers, saying that “it is one of the few states that follow due process since it was created 30 years ago.”

The Chatter of Equity, they insisted, provides guidelines for equitable and even development of the state, adding that one of the guidelines is the rotation of the position of the governor of the state according to the alphabetical order of the letters of the word ABIA.

The elders further explained that many people agitating for the position to be zoned to their areas did not know that ABIA was coined from the first letters of the four former Colonial Divisions and the Isuikwuato District which today constituted the present Abia State.

Giving further insight, the Abia elders argued that the Chatter of Equity involves three major sub-groups, the Umuahia group, Aba group and Isuikwuato group, maintaining that all these groups subscribed to the Charter of Equity, and jointly in the spirit of equanimity submitted a request and memorandum of understanding to the military government for the creation of Abia State out of the Old Imo State.

“They accepted the equity and equality of all the senatorial zones then as well as Isuikwuato District. Thus, according to the Chatter of Equity, the governorship that is rotatory should have gone from Abia North Senatorial zone to Abia Central Senatorial zone and then to Isuikwuato District (which did not happen) before coming to Abia South Senatorial zone”.

(Daily Independent)