THE Chances of the Abia state Governor Dr. Okezie lkpeazu to win Saturday’s election to represent Abia South Senatorial Zone in the Senate has received a blow with a reputable opinion poll favouring the incumbent Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe to defeat the Governor this weekend.
The Opinion Poll conducted by MicMedia Ltd and made available to Newsmen yesterday quoted that over thirty thousand respondents all registered voters across the six Local Government Areas of the senatorial zone interviewed knocked lkpeazu over his poor infrastructural performance especially in the commercial city of Aba and even his own local Government, Obingwa.
Ikpeazu will complete his second tenure as a Governor come May 29, this year while Abaribe is seeking re-election for the fifth time into the red Chambers. Both are from Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia state.
Seventy percent of the respondents in Aba, mostly traders described Ikpeazu, the first Ngwa Governor as a colossal failure who has missed the opportunity of using his position to address the infrastructural decay of Aba city.
Many of them who are Landlords in Portharcourt and Omuma roads of Aba lamented the ” wickedness” of the Governor who destroyed all the buildings along these roads with the promise of rebuilding it within a year and six months but failed thereby causing hardships on the people and leaving the roads worst than he met them.
According to the poll, one of the respondents, lkechi Mbakwe narrated how the Government of lkpeazu brought his colleague, Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state to Portharcourt road to flag off the road construction to be completed according to him within a year and six months, destroying people’s building with a promise of building six lanes uptill today four years after, the place has been abandoned and worst than lkpeazu met it.
Another respondent within Obikabia area of Aba also accused lkpeazu of falling to complete the ururuka road that leads to his home umuobiakwa and stretched to Umuahia the state capital, a road that was constructed during the Orji Uzor Kalu’s reign in 1999.
Respondents within Ukwaeast, Ukwawest and Ugwunagbo local Government Areas of the state are worst hit as there are no Ikpeazu’s developmental projects in these councils.
Obohia and Ohanku roads in Aba that lead to Ukwaeast and ukwawest councils are deplorable and no go areas while ukwawest despite been an oil producing Area has no single project in the eight years of lkpeazu Administration.
Many of the respondents compared lkpeazu with his counterparts in other southeast states and generally scored him poorly.
The respondents queried what lkpeazu will be going to do in the Senate having failed woefully as a Governor who couldn’t even develop his senatorial zone for good second term of eight years as a Governor.
Eighty percent of the respondents preferred Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe whom they claim has been a renowned voice speaking for not only his senatorial zone but all lgbos in the red Chambers.
They said ” Enyinnaya Abaribe is a true son of lgbo land, outspoken and loved by his people and has also brought developments to his people. We prefer him in the Senate anytime anyday far above lkpeazu”
