Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State appears to be under pressure over alleged moves to impeach his deputy, Ude Oko Chukwu, as the immediate- past Secretary to the Government, SSG, Dr Eme Okoro, has challenged him to personally address Abians on the issue.
Okoro, who had, on Monday, warned against the alleged plot said Ikpeazu’s response exonerating himself from the alleged impeachment plot was not convincing enough.He argued that the seriousness of the matter demanded the governor addressing it himself to douse the growing tension and not leaving it to his media aide.
“The tension in the state makes it a little more mandatory for my governor to speak to Abia people that he has no plans to impeach his deputy, “the erstwhile SSG said.
“He ought to elevate it to a level of peace-making. I know him very well that if he wants to douse tension, he can say: my people I have no plans to impeach my Deputy’; and not to send somebody to speak for him.”
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Ikpeazu had, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, said there was “no substance in such rumor as he has no such plans and has never discussed any such issue with anyone.”
Okoro, who served as SSG under Ikpeazu’s first tenure, insisted that it was wrong for anybody to plan to remove the deputy governor from office for declaring interest in the 2023 governorship race.
The former SSG, who claimed that he played a key role in Ikpeazu’s emergence in 2015 based on power rotation arrangement as contained in Abia Charter of Equity, urged the governor to allow power return to Abia North in line with the prevailing zoning arrangement in the state.
He accused a former deputy governor, and Ikpeazu’s in-law, Chief Acho Nwakanma, and ill-advising the governor despite opposing Ikpeazu’s governorship bid in 2015.
Okoro warned lawmakers, especially those from Abia North, against acceding to any request to axe out the deputy governor on trumped-up charges.
The former SSG said he led a delegation of elders to plead with the governor to allow power shift to Abia North in the spirit of Abia Charter of Equity but expressed concern that the governor’s silence is creating confusion.
Source: Vanguard