The campaign council of Prof. Gregory Ibe has denied claims that governor Okezie Ikpeazu is funding the former’s gubernatorial ambition.

The council in a statement made available to CSUNews described such allegations as “laughable” and “filthy.”

Prof Ibe was said to be among some three persons being sponsored by the incumbent governor.

Governor Ikpeazu is of the People’s Democratic party and supports the candidacy of Prof. Uche Ikonne from his party.

It reads thus;

Our attention has been drawn to a humorous and hilarious comic piece authored by an unsuccessful burlesque writer, whose failure to secure a supplementary scriptwriting role in Nollywood has become legendary. In this recent laughable piece captioned “How Ikpeazu is funding 3 Abia governorship candidates to retain power by proxy,” this faceless Onitsha market fifth columnist attempted, albeit woefully, to diminish the ascending political profile of Prof Gregory Ibe, the Abia state governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) by erroneously alleging that he is being sponsored by the current Abia state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.

Our investigation however revealed that in publishing this malicious misinformation, the misguided author ingloriously secured the sponsorship of a notorious serial election loser who apparently wants to take his losing streak to a new level by forcing himself into the forthcoming Abia governorship race, albeit through the back door, deploying an unpopular political structure.

Being a focused organization which current engagement is to dislodge the unproductive and malfunctioning PDP administration, which abysmal performance continues to be a shameful reproach to all well meaning Abians, while seriously working towards the emergence of a brand new Abia, the Prof Gregory Ibe Campaign Organization(ProGICO) would have ignored the said publication but for the purpose of putting the records straight and as a way of puncturing the writer’s aim of misinforming, misleading and subsequently deceiving innocent Abians. We hereby make the following clarifications;

That Prof Gregory Ibe is a globally acclaimed technocrat whose antecedents and footprints in the highly competitive world of corporate business, scholarly erudite, creative innovativeness and proactive patriotism is public knowledge. That his advent into politics in the early days of the fourth republic was not for selfish interests but inspired by a desire to contribute to the cause of reforming and transforming the society. That pursuant to this desire Prof Ibe has supported every effort to make life better for Abians in particular and Nigerians as a whole, as these can be attested to by the annual distribution of palliatives to groups, organization of free medical cum surgical outreaches, award of tuition free scholarship to hundreds of undergraduates and grading of community roads.

That Prof Ibe, as a committed Christian of the Catholic persuasion, imbibed early in life the virtues of bestowing absolute faith, trust and confidence on Jehovah, the Almighty Creator God, and subsequently has so far posted a successful, impactful and productive independent life tenure in business and politics without recourse to and reliance on any human godfather, and from all intents and purposes does not intend to alter that position any time in the nearest or distant future.

That the allusion by the aforementioned publication that Prof Ibe is being sponsored by the PDP government of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is not only atrocious, pernicious and mischievous but at best the lowest form of a no-brainer evil conjecture hurriedly packaged, promoted and projected by a league of frightened political dwarfs and Lilliputians in an unsuccessful attempt to freely donate a political godfather to Prof Ibe and subsequently accord credit to Dr Ikpeazu for the numerous giant strides of the focused Abia APGA Governorship Candidate in all sectors including social, educational, economical, infrastructural and political.

That for the umpteenth time we want to reassert that Prof Ibe resigned his membership of the PDP on 30 March 2022 after making several failed attempts to meet with Governor Ikpeazu in an effort to enlist his intervention as leader of the party in the bid to reverse the confusing double zoning formula proposed by the party exco for the Governorship position, which was in contradiction with the letters and spirit of the content of the Abia Charter of Equity document.

That subsequent upon joining APGA, Prof Ibe has focused on the task of building the party to emerge strong and formidable, endowed with capacity for overwhelming victory in the 2023 general elections.

That allegation of purported sponsorship of Prof Ibe by Governor Ikpeazu is nothing but a perfect example of a wild goose chase given the present strained relationship existing between the two and their membership of two opposing political parties. Therefore such speculation can only suggest the perpetuation of anti party by Governor Ikpeazu and should be thoroughly investigated by the National Working Committee of PDP, since if realized it has the potency of handing over the state to APGA.

That the evil suggestion of an illusionary sponsorship of Prof Ibe by Governor Ikpeazu is a figment of the author’s warped marijuana induced imagination that should be ignored by every right thinking individual.

That we therefore enjoin Abians to disregard the said publication as the roguish handiwork of petrified weak political underdogs who are confused and startled with public acceptance of the candidacy of Prof Ibe and the visible massive support accorded the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) in Abia state as signified by the current enormous registration of new members across the state.