By Matthew Don
The covert “war” between governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and his benefactor and predecessor, former governor Theodore Orji will soon be made overt as Ikpeazu prepares to appoint his own “men” into the new cabinet he is about to constitute.
Ikpeazu sacked his cabinet made up of commissioners, special advisers, special assistants, and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) during the week, leaving behind a few of them believed to be his “right hand” men.
Theodore Orji
According to an announcement on the Abia State official website signed by the Permanent Secretary, Government House, Onyii Wamah, only three cabinet members – Chief of Staff to the Governor, Sunny Nwakodo, Commissioner for Finance, Obioma Oriaku, and Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Umeh Kalu (SAN) were spared.
However, three of the governor’s men, his former Commissioner for Works, Eziuche Ubani, have been recalled and re-designated Special Adviser on Works and Project Monitoring, Emma Nwabuko, as Special Adviser\Personal Secretary to Governor, and Solomon Ogunji, Special Adviser on Urban Renewal.
Sources close to the seat of power in Abia told Armadanews.com that the cabinet reshuffle was a plot by Ikpeazu to “be his own man and appoint those he would be comfortable with as the 2019 election bell has started ringing.”
According to the source, there has been a smouldering fight between Ikpeazu and Orji, but the governor, the source said, has been managing it maturely so as not to create the impression he was not grateful to Orji, now a senator, for helping him to power.
Another source said that Ikpeazu has been enduring the slant comments of many Abians who think he still defers to Orji at the detriment of the public good, wondering why the former governor turned Senator would want to do to Ikpeazu what he claimed his own predecessor, Orji Uzor Kalu did to him which he resisted with his whole strength.
Unconfirmed report said Ikpeazu pays Orji a particular amount of money monthly apart from other commitments he was made to secretly commit himself to while running for the office. Most of the cabinet members that Ikpeazu started off with were also nominees of the former governor.
According to our findings, Ikpeazu was patiently waiting for his court cases to be over before he takes the plunge and now that the matter is over, “it is in his own interest to be his own man and govern Abia without the needless meddling by his political benefactor.”
Part of what will likely play out in the coming months, it was gathered, is the plot to deny Orji ticket for a return to the Senate and the attempt to refuse his son ticket to return to Abia State House of Assembly.
There are also insinuations that most of the lawmakers loyal to Orji are at the risk of being stopped in 2019, a move being carefully orchestrated by Ikpeazu’s men to firmly take charge of the political environment of Abia.