…Says Abaribe’s Senate Return Impossible

A Senatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia South, Prince Paul Ikonne, has dismissed the proposed single four-year tenure being canvassed by former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, insisting that Ndigbo would not support any arrangement that denies the South-East the opportunity of an eight-year presidency when its turn eventually comes.

Ikonne, who is the immediate past Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), also declared that governors and key political stakeholders across the South-East, including Abia State Governor Alex Otti, are backing the re-election bid of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking during a media interactive session in Abuja on Thursday, the APC chieftain said the South-East would not “Make the mistake” of embracing a one-term presidency proposal, arguing that other regions enjoyed two terms of eight years in office.

According to him, “Why would somebody come and say he wants to be President for only four years? He is indirectly trying to deprive the South-East of what other zones enjoyed for eight years. No Igbo man will support such an arrangement.

“When the time comes for the South-East to produce a President, it should be for eight years, not four.”

Recall that Ikonne recently launched a grassroots mobilisation platform, “Asiwaju Tsunami 2027,” in Abia State to galvanise support for Tinubu’s re-election across the South-East.

He described Tinubu’s 2023 electoral performance as merely “a wind,” insisting that the 2027 election would produce a “political tsunami” in favour of the President.

“What Nigerians saw in 2023 was just wind; 2027 will be a tsunami. The support base of the President has expanded significantly, especially in the South-East,” he stated.

Ikonne further disclosed that Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, had assembled a mobilisation team, of which he is a member, to rally support for Tinubu among Igbo communities across the country.

“We are moving from market to market, shop to shop, sensitising our people on the need to support President Tinubu. The votes he will get in 2027 will come from every part of Nigeria where Igbos reside,” he added.

On the position of South-East governors, Ikonne claimed that the region’s political leadership had aligned with the President because of the level of development and federal support being witnessed in the area.

“One clear indication is that a governor who came into office through the Labour Party is now supporting the President. That tells you the President has no serious opposition in Abia State,” he said.

According to him, governors in the region have also embraced Tinubu because of the resources made available to states for developmental projects.

“The President has allowed more resources to go directly to governors to impact lives at the grassroots. Development should not only come from the centre; it should be driven by states and local governments,” he said.

Also, he interpreted the decision of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) to zone its presidential ticket to the South as an endorsement of Tinubu completing a second term in office.

“If they have zoned their presidential ticket to the South, it simply confirms that President Tinubu should complete his eight years, just as the North did,” he stated.

The APC stalwart also took a swipe at Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Senator representing Abia South, insisting that the lawmaker would not return to the Senate in 2027 after spending nearly two decades in the National Assembly.

“Abia South people have resolved that Senator Abaribe should come back home. After almost 20 years in the Senate, there is nothing tangible to show in terms of constituency projects,” he alleged.

He further argued that the declining influence of the Labour Party and recent political developments involving Abaribe indicated that the “Obi wave” witnessed in 2023 had faded in the South-East.

“The Labour Party is battling internal crises and losing ground politically. What happened in 2023 will not repeat itself in the South-East,” Ikonne added.