Abia Transformation Agenda Network (ATAN) has accused the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of playing hide and seek over the prolonged absence of its governorship candidate, Prof Uche Ikonne.
The network stated this in a statement about the health status of Ikonne, who has been sick, saying the party is playing with the collective destiny of the people by not providing them information about his whereabouts.
National coordinator of the network, Thomas Okoro in the statement cited by NATIONAL ECONOMY said they had noted with interest how the party has refused, neglected or ignored to give full details about Ikonne.
“In Abia, there are varying speculations regarding where the 70-year-old former vice chancellor is attending to his health since he allegedly collapsed at the Umuahia Township Stadium venue of the Abia PDP campaign flag off.
“We noticed that a faction of the PDP who feel they would benefit if a swap happens, has been holding series of meetings on how to scale through the hurdle of replacement of candidate placed by the Electoral Act.”
Quoting the Electoral Act, they said a candidate may withdraw from the election in writing to the party that nominated him if he or she feels that he or she can no longer continue with the race.
“The pertinent question that shall be on the lips of every Abians is ‘what are they hiding about Prof. Ikonne’s health?” Apart from those who take Abians for a ride, which other people are making sure that they are ignored?
“We have always known that Ikonne has multiple godfathers. What we seek is for one of the godfathers to be bold enough to tell Abians why they are making us look stupid,”they said.
They argued that only recently on a Radio Interview, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, admitted that Ikonne was sick and will return in the future, only for him to confess that Ikonne will return soon or later.
“We find this recant despicable and utterly deceitful. We will continue to ask: Where is Ikonne? What are those sinister reasons they are wasting our resources on an event they know will never happen?”
