Endorsement: Ukwa la Ngwa not agency of Abia Govt, Nduaguibe tells Ikpeazu, PDP

The Leader and Chairman of Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders, Abia State, Dr Max Nduaguibe, has lashed out at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and government of Abia State, over attempt to railroad the group into endorsing Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s chosen candidate for Abia governorship in the 2023 election.

To demonstrate his resolve as a leader, he subsequently marched his words with action by expelling certain members of the group suspected to have been found wanting in the conspiracy to get the Abia divisional blocs of Ukwa and Ngwa people to adopt septuagenarian, Professor Uche Ikonne, PDP’s candidate for the 2023 governorship election.

“Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders is conceived as a pressure group. For those hell bent in converting it to a political party, it will never be under my watch.

“Don Ubani, Acho Nwakanma, St. Moses Ogbonna, you have all been expelled. Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders is not a political party,” Nduaguibe said emphatically.

The former Assistant Professor of Law (1984) at University of Calabar, Cross River State, had earlier issued a statement, alerting the people of Abia State, indeed Nigerians, that some “overzealous PDP members” in the Ukwa la Ngwa group had put him under pressure to endorse Ikonne but that he had resisted them.

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In the statement issued on September 6, 2022 and published on his Facebook page, Nduaguibe wrote: “Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders wishes to reiterate, for the avoidance of doubt, that the Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders is not an agency of the Government of Abia State, neither is it an extension of any political party including the PDP.

“I, Max Nduaguibe, as the promoter, leader and Chairman of Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders have continuously advised some overzealous PDP members in our midst not to be in a haste in adopting anyone of our sons who have emerged as Candidate until the appropriate time when we would have had a chat with them and studied the political atmosphere in the State.

“Notwithstanding my advice, some tiny group of PDP members amongst us have continuously, in the last three weeks, been pressuring me to use me as a rubber stamp, to give my imprimatur to their selfish agenda in the name, supposedly of Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders, in order to adopt the PDP candidate prematurely.

“Upon my rejection of their plan, they have now created a Platform of PDP members in order to hoodwink Abians to believe that the Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders has adopted the PDP Candidate. Nothing is further from the truth.

“All people of Ukwa la Ngwa extraction, and the general public, should discountenance such fraud, as there is no other Ukwa la Ngwa Council of Elders except the one registered and led by Max Nduaguibe.

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“Politics in Abia State will not continue to be characterized by their stock in trade, and all manner of subterfuge always to achieve unholy agenda.”

Meanwhile, the PDP has ordered its members in the Ukwa la Ngwa group to exit the group’s WhatsApp platform.

In a message circulated to the PDP members by one Dr Chris Nwagboso, a former deputy chief of staff to the Abia governor as well as a former local government Transition Council chairman, the PDP alleged plans by the group to undermine the party’s interest and that of its candidate, Ikonne.

“All PDP members, supporters and friends of Prof Ikonne in Ukwa-La-Ngwa WhatsApp Platform are by this notice advised to exit the Platform.

“There is grand design to undermine the interest of our Party (PDP) and our Gubernatorial Candidate (Prof Uche Ikonne) by some leaders of this socio-cultural organisation.

“To perfect this plot, all supporters of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Prof Ikonne and some PDP members challenging this clandestine plot have been removed from the Platform,” Nwagboso alleged.