- Over deputy governorship ticket
THE controversy surrounding the substantive deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a twist yesterday, as the Commissioner for Information, Eze Chikamnayo and the party’s Publicity Secretary, Abraham Amah, engaged in war of words.
Okey Igwe, the running mate to the late governorship candidate Prof. Uche Ikonne, was reportedly replaced with Uche Jasper after the emergence of Chief Okey Ahiwe as the standard-bearer.
PDP claimed that Igwe was dropped because of his dual citizenship.
Sources within the party said Igwe had engaged a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a former Attorney General of the state, Umeh Kalu, to challenge the decision of the party to drop him for Jasper.
Chikamnayo, in a statement obtained by our correspondent, accused Amah of speaking against the position of the party.
He said: “As it stands, Dr. Jasper Uche, whose name has been duly submitted to INEC after the fresh primaries of the party, occasioned by the painful death of Prof. Ikonne, remains the authentic deputy governorship candidate of the party.”
But in a swift response, Amah said: “Chikamnayo arrogated the power to speak for the Abia PDP to himself, which in every imaginable circumstance is a misnomer. He is not at liberty to speak for the party, unless otherwise instructed. The matter is a party issue, for which he has no authority to delve into.”