A political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has replied the
Abia state governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, describing the governor as a
mole in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor had on Sunday issued a statement attacking the former APC
spokeman over his earlier statement that most PDP governors were not
committed to the opposition politics in Nigeria.
But responding back to Ikeazu through another statement on Monday,
Comrade Frank, said rather than apologise for the misadventure, “the
Abia state governor’s shallow defence as to why he chose to jet out with
the President at the expense of his party’s National Executive Council
(NEC) meeting buttressed the belief in some quarters that he is indeed
an All Progressives Congress (APC) mole even as a PDP governor.
“In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Queen Gertrude said: “The lady doth
protest too much, methinks”. She did this in reference to the insincere
overacting of a character in the play.
“From that day to today, nothing has changed. Insincerity is most
obvious in overly dramatic denials. And this is what we see with Okezie
Victor Ikpeazu’s response to my candid observation.
“The popular saying that an old woman is always uneasy at the mention of
dry bones manifested itself in the reply of the incompetent Governor of
Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu to my statement I criticised him for hopping
off to London with President Muhammadu Buhari in the midst of a serious
national and political onslaught against the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), in Imo State.
“Playing the ostrich, Ikpeazu pinned his trip with the President to the
UK-Africa Investment Summit on the quest market his proposed Enyimba
Economic City Project to foreign investors.
“Does a man go on a jamboree when his house is on fire? That is the
question that Ikpeazu should answer rather than play acting in his
protests that represent his guilty conscience.”
The Bayelsa born activist also cleared the air over the allegagtion made
by the governor that he (Framk) was used and dumped by the APC saying:
“Let it be known to the indolent Governor that I resigned from the All
Progressives Congress and refused to hero-worship General Buhari when
the APC derailed and began to pursue anti-people agenda rather than what
they promised Nigerians. How can I then be compared to an Ikpeazu, whose
sycophantic laugh almost tore his mouth while he was throwing himself at
General Buhari, to secure his post gubernatorial future?
“For the records, I stood my grounds while in the APC and I resigned my
position as a principled person and not because of any political gain.
And since the governor talks about political worth and jobbing, perhaps
it is pertinent to expose him at this juncture for who he truly is.
“That Ikpeazu calls himself a national leader of the PDP is self
delusional dream. Within the party, he is known for what he is, an
unreliable person who would rather jamboree while there is fire at his
doorstep. In case he does not know, Ikpeazu is as relevant to the PDP as
the “P” in psychology.
“It is most unfortunate that in Ikpeazu’s little world and mindset, it
is only with the President that he can get attention. this reflects his
lack of initiative, drive and dynamism to push any project to
profitability.”
On the reason why the governor traveled with the President, Frank
believe that “projects such as Tinapa in Cross River state and the
mechanised farm in Kwara state, sold themselves out to foreign investors
on account of well-thought-out and executed marketing strategies which
the governors of the states embarked on at the time and not because they
carried empty brief cases on presidential trips looking for
uninterrupted hours of snitching and mundane political theatrics with
the President.
” One wonder the kinds of investors Ikpeazu is looking for in UK when he
is one of the worst governor who doesn’t pay regular salary in his
state.”
On why the governor is a mole in the PDP, Frank said Ikpeazu was among
the PDP governors that gave General Buhari and the APC 25 per cent vote
in return for 2nd term, “in short, Ikpeazu is a confirmed PDP by day and
APC by night.
“The Abia governor capitulated when he posited in his reply that, ‘Much
as Governor Ikpeazu is not responsible for Timi’s unguarded spleen, no
leader would prefer to attend a party meeting to attending a Summit
where his ideas and programs for his people will be beamed at the global
stage.’
“If for the sake of argument we yield to this convoluted reasoning of
his, is he also saying that that the PDP’s NEC was not worth the
attention of his deputy? Clearly he was sending a clear message of
disdain to the party to impress his pay masters.
“When I alluded to Ikpeazu as a political hatchet man and mole for the
APC, no fact underscores this than the 2015 and 2019 presidential
election results in Abia State.
“Can Ikpeazu who regards himself as a PDP national leader explain to
Nigerians how General Buhari and the APC scored 13,394 votes against the
PDP’s 368,303 in the 2015 presidential election – removing from the list
of states that the APC had 25 per cent and then clearly explain to
Nigerians, how in 2019 presidential elections, the APC and General
Buhari scored 85,058 and PDP PDP scored a depleted 219, 698 votes?
“The simple answer to this eye popping revelation is the liability
Ikpeazu is to the PDP and the reason he is all cheeks in smile with the
President and perhaps while he will continue to be a sacred cow at the
Supreme Court.
“May it not be the lot of Abians and the PDP in particular that tax
payers money is being blown on the altar of presidential patronage and
clandestine investor chase.
“Ikpeazu can catch his fun and be a political undertaker, however, the
PDP and Abia people deserve more compassion.”