By Nnaya Okemini, Umuahia
Reps Nkiruka Onyrjeocha
Mben Political Assembly (MPA), has said that the member representing Umunneochi/Isuikwuato Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives goofed when she said Isuikwuato District against other political blocks in Abia North Senatoral zone deserves to produce the next governor of Abia state.
The Vice President of the MPA, Dr. Ukpai Iro Ukpai stated this while speaking to newsmen in Umuahia, the state capital following a call by Hon Nkiruka Onyejeocha that the district which is represented by the letter “I” in the name of the state should succeed Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in 2023.
Since Ikpeazu assumed the office in May 2019 for a second term, there has been persistent calls in the political space of the state that the seat should return to the zone in 2023 after the central, and the south, the present occupant have each taken their turns of maximun eight years since 1999.
He said Onyejeocha’s position negates the letters of the Abia Charter of Equity (ACE), which recognises senatorial zones for the rotation of the office and not districts, adding that if the people of the district are interested in it, they should campaign for it on the basis of zone and not district.
Iro Ukpai argued that under the present democratic dispensation in the country, the seat commenced the rotation from the north in 1999, moved to the central in 2007, and has since 2015 been in the south, saying the rotation, having been completed, it is logical that it starts again in the north in 2023.
The member of Ohafia Udumeze Political Think Thank said, “It is fair game for my Isuikwuato brethren to be contending for the position come 2023. Their monarchs and their politicians have argued that it should be their turn. Just as Ohafia Udumeze and their Mben Political Assembly have.”
Furthermore, Iro Ukpai expressed supprise at the claim by Onyejeocha and other stakeholders of the constituuency that there are maginalized, saying , “It is an undisputable fact that people of Isuikwuato extraction have held more political positions in both old Imo and Abia states than those of Ohafia Udumeze
He noted that since the dispensation over 20 years ago, Ohafia Udumeze clan in Ohafia local government area has been the most marginalized despite its huge population and registered voters, insisting that throughout the period, the clan is yet to produce a House of Representatives member, Senator, or governor.
The vice president said, “Rather than crying marginalization, we have been consistent in supporting other clans to occupy those positions. Senators Ike Nwachukwu, Uche Chukwumerije and many others from the district, too numerous to mention, benefitted from our support to win elections.”
He in the same manner, carpeted those advocating the reversal of the North-Central-South order of the rotation for South-Central-North, saying the suggestion is nothing but a prescription for political anarchy and an ill-wind which the people of the state must vehemently oppose to the last word.
“Justice will take forced flight from the state’s political architecture, if anyone contemplates shortchanging the north by denying it the seat in 2023. If it is done, it will make the north to wait for more than the 16 years maximum period under the ACE rotation arrangement,” he said.
According to the All Progressive Congress (APC) chief, “Should the seat go, no, jump to any other zone other than the north, after it will have by May 2023 waited for 16 years for it, the central for eight, and the south for zero, a great injustice will have been meted to the people.
