Former Minister Denies Loss in Abia APC Primary, Promises to Appeal to National Leadership

The former Minister of State for Science and Technology, Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh, has announced that he will petition the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after rejecting Eric Opah as the party’s Abia State governorship candidate.

The statement was made by Ikedi Ezekwesili Friday, Director General of the Henry Ikoh campaign organisation.

Ezekwesili said that Ikoh had previously been selected as the consensus candidate by 13 of the 18 members of the State Working Committee (SWC), but the party later went against that agreement.

She described Opah’s victory as “strange, unacceptable and provocative,” noting that it contradicted the consensus reached by the majority of the SWC.

The statement, titled “The Sham Called Abia APC governorship primary election and the purported results announced cannot stand,” warned that forcing candidates against the collective decision of stakeholders could create avoidable disaffection within the party and undermine efforts to reposition the APC as a formidable opposition force in Abia State.

Supporters of House of Assembly aspirant Ngozi Orji, who ran for the Bende North constituency, have alleged that she was denied her mandate after winning 4 of the 3 wards.

Obinna Mba, spokesperson for the aggrieved indigenes, said that allowing the imposition of a candidate could harm the APC’s prospects in the constituency.

Speaking to journalists at the party office, APC State Chairman Chijioke Chukwu said the party would establish a peace and reconciliation committee to address grievances of defeated candidates.

“Everybody cannot win at the same time, on the same day. You can win today and lose tomorrow, and you can lose tomorrow and win next, tomorrow,” Chukwu said.