Okezie Ikpeazu, Governor of Abia State, has identified “The Peter Obi effect” as one of the major reasons his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lost the state governorship election, which he predicted.
The PDP’s original candidate, Uche Ikonne, died weeks before the election, and the party replaced him with Okey Ahiwe, who was defeated at the polls by Labour Party candidate Alex Otti.
Ikpeazu, who also lost his Senate bid, said he warned his party about “The Peter Obi effect” at the polls.
“That Peter Obi effect, I predicted it and told my party. I even volunteered that reasonable politicians should not ignore what Peter Obi was doing,” he said.
The governor said he never personally campaigned against the former Anambra State governor as all he wanted was a president from the southern region of the country.
On Peter Obi’s effect after the election, Ikpeazu said, “What would happen going forward will be determined by how Peter Obi manages the groundswell of support that he had gathered. How is he going to funnel this towards an agenda that can eventually materialise in his dream?”
The Abia governor was one of the five PDP governor known as the G5 who did not support the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar. Ikpeazu said he doesn’t regret being part of the group.
Ikpeazu said, “I think that (being part of G5) is one of the most brilliant decisions I have taken as a politician.”
The incumbent’s preferred candidate, Ahiwe, lost the Abia governorship election while Ikpeazu himself also lost his bid to represent Abia North Senatorial District in the National Assembly to the incumbent Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
However, he said if losing those elections are the sacrifice for his principled position for presidency to return to the South, he was okay with it.