The People’s Democratic Party (PDP),in Abia State,has revealed the secrets that gave them a smooth ride to victory in the just concluded Aba North/South Federal Constituency Bye Election.
This is coming to disabuse the minds of people who thought the election was won out of electoral malpractices.
In an Interview with the PDP State Secretary,Barr David Iro,said the just concluded bye election was simply a time the people of Aba used to reciprocate the kind gesture done them by the Governor of the State,Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, who in no small measure has embarked on massive road constructions to recover all bad roads in Aba and environs.
The State Secretary disclosed that for the first time,an election would be held without any form of rift arising from his party or other parties’ contestants challenging the result in court.
For him, the secret to their victory was hinged on the activities of the party and the state government.
He said the party recorded a smooth primary election that produced Hon Chimaobi Ebisike,a candidate, that was for the first time, accepted by all, without any form of rancour,as against previous elections, where internal crisis usually hit the party after each primary election exercise, adding that other PDP contestants for the primary election supported and campaigned for Hon Ebisike.
“The PDP transversed all the nooks and crannies of Aba within the shortest possible time,with all our party members including the governor of the state, marketing the candidacy of Hon Ebisike to indigenes and non indigenes”,he revealed.
The Secretary further revealed that the result of the election showed that Hon Ebisike was a better candidate, stating that apart from the party projecting an indigenous candidate,other factors also aided their victory.
Barr Iro disclosed that the Bye election had so much significants to the party, because the opposition party wanted to use the election as an affront to come to the state and claim dominance,as well as hijack the election.
“As you know ,a rat cannot consume a man’s food when he is awake, instead of that to happen to us,we deployed our men to Aba to watch,so that our mandate will not be stolen”,he stated.
The APC even though they tried some skirmishes,by falsifying their primary results,which was publicly countered by a chieftain of their party Prince Paul Ikonne, the members of the PDP took it upon themselves to educate and enlighten the people of Aba,why they must give their vote to an indigene.
The State Secretary further disabused the minds of Abians who thought the election necessitated the ongoing construction works in Aba.
According to him, the Abia Governor kick started the Kinetic Abia Movement long before the election,simply to revamp the infrastructural base of the commercial hub centre.
He said if APC had known the PDP government had gone far in road construction,they wouldn’t have put so much energy in the election.
Iro revealed that there were numerous lessons the party learnt from the just concluded bye election, ranging from the need to have a harmonized party primaries at all times,as this contributed to the reason the party lost to APGA in the 2015 general elections for Aba North/South Federal constituency.
“It was a normal thing after every primary election for our party members to go in disarray,to the point of playing anti-party politics.Internal crisis was not far from us.
“This time around,we worked on every ill factor that could stop us from winning the election,as we made the primary election as free as possible.This is somehow the first time,a candidate will generally be accepted by all contestants,to the point of supporting and campaigning for him”,he explained.
The PDP state secretary also disclosed that the party further learnt from the just concluded election that delivering on their mandate was key to victory,adding that if there were no projects on ground,the people would not have hesitated to vote for the opposition parties,but because the PDP government has delivered on their campaign promises,as well the dividend of democracy,Abians saw the need to reciprocate the good gesture by voting the PDP all the way.
He, however,commended the spirit of sportsmanship among the various contestants who accepted the result of the election in good fate, urging them to bring out their wealth of experience,ideas, resources to support the winner,Chimaobi Ebisike,to push the constituency forward and by extension the state.
Having seen what transpired at the bye election, the secretary stated that before 2023, projects would be scattered across every nook and cranny of the state, making the general elections for that a year an easy ride for the party.
