Nothing could be further from the truth than Governor Ikpeazu’s statement in his New Year’s Message that his friends who are contesting elections in other parties are ‘renegade apprentices’. This confirms our worries that the majority of those who hide under the cloak of other parties and masquerading as opposition governorship candidates are of the PDP stock. By implication, they are part and parcel of the system that has held Abia down in the past 24 years.

As PDP apprentices, they have been schooled in the art of misgovernance, graft and ineptitude. These, no doubt, are the signature traits of the PDP. These so-called opposition governorship candidates are either former PDP contractors, former PDP candidates or former Chief of Staff. In them runs the PDP blood.

It is worth mentioning that among the candidates who are vying to govern Abia from May 29, there is one candidate who stands out. He is Bishop Emeka Nwankpa, the Accord Party governorship candidate. All his life, this revered cleric and philanthropist has maintained impeccable integrity, courage, character and capacity. He has never been part of the problem of Abia State and, therefore, remains the kind of governor Abia desires and deserves.

In the case of Abia, the saying that you cannot keep doing things in the same manner and still expect a different result suffices. Therefore, Abia cannot continue to recycle the same leaders who have underdeveloped it and expect to move forward.

In all developmental indices, Abia is far behind her neighbouring states. A visit to Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Anambra and Enugu leaves one to wonder whether Abia State is cursed. It therefore behoves Abians to choose the leader who is compassionate and has the fear of God. Abia needs a leader that is honest and empathetic. Abia needs a leader who does not have anything to do with the old order. Abia needs a leader who is not Ikpeazu’s and his PDP’s apprentice because an apprentice will surely practise what he has learned from his master.

In all these, one man fits in, and he is Bishop Emeka Nwankpa, the Accord Party governorship candidate. With Emeka Nwankpa as Governor, Abia State will be the reference point of a progressive state. Never again shall Abians allow the PDP or any of its apprentices rule us

@TeamEmekaNwankpa