Onyebuchi Ememanka, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, has reacted to rumours on the plan to defect to the governing All Progressive Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This is coming on the heels of the recent visit and closed-door meeting between Governor Ikpeazu and the leader of opposition APC in Abia State and Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
DAILY POST reported that Ikpeazu had received Kalu at his Umuobiakwa country home at Obinngwa Local Government Area of the state.
The Abia Governor, alongside his aides and personal staff who were already waiting for Kalu’s coming, received Kalu who arrived at the Governor’s mansion on Friday 7th January 2022 at exactly 1:32 pm.
Shortly after the pleasantries, Ikpeazu then proceeded into an inner room with Orji Kalu for a private meeting.
However, while dismissing the notions in many quarters of the state on Ikpeazu’s planned defection to the APC, the Governor’s spokesman, Ememanka regretted the reactions that have continued to trail Kalu’s visit to his principal at Umuobiakwa country home of the state governor and also regretted that the development has shown lots of people are interested in empty conspiracy theories.
He insisted that the Governor is a different kind of man and that he will always receive his visitors, especially his predecessors in office.
According to Ememanka, “this who know Ikpeazu will tell you that even when you had disagreements with him based on political ideologies, it doesn’t affect his relationship with you.
“He is a kind of governor who will refuse to entertain a former Governor who requests a visit simply because they don’t agree politically. No. And yes, the visit has absolutely nothing to do with a defection or none of it. No such issue ever came up during their talks. If anyone will defect on account of that visit, it is certainly not Governor Okezie Ikpeazu”.
The spokesman further reaffirmed the unwavering loyalty of Governor Ikpeazu to the Peoples Democratic Party and concluded by saying, “Ikpeazu remains a member and a leader in the PDP and he will lead the PDP in Abia state to victory in 2023.”
