Imo Speakership; Elected Obowo AA Lawmaker Finalize PDP Move
Barring any last minute change of mind, the camp of members elected under PDP platform may swell as one of the House of Assembly members elect, Hon Kennedy Ibe is tipped to join the party from the Action Alliance.
Ibe, formerly of the APC joined other pro Rochas Okorocha lawmakers in the State Assembly to find refuge in the AA alongside the governor’s adopted candidate for governorship, Chief Uche Nwosu when the ruling party denied them tickets late last year.
As the race for who becomes the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly opens up, Ibe and two other returning lawmakers who are from Okigwe zone, entitled to produce the Speaker, considering the zones of the governor-elect and his deputy, is suspected to be making moves to join the PDP to get the speakership position.
Before, now, Ibe had been a staunch member of the Okorocha Rescue Mission political platform. Trumpeta learnt that leaders of Obowo despite party differences are strongly advancing cases for the lawmaker to be considered for the number one assembly member slot. It was learnt that notable politicians of Obowo extraction have moved into the camp of the Governor-elect and Deputy make a strong case for Ibe.
Ibe’s reported move is heightened by his presence at the Rockview Hotel Owerri venue of inauguration of the Transition Technical Committee, TTC organized by the governor-elect, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha.
While newly elected AA and APGA lawmakers avoided the show, Ibe was present alongside PDP lawmakers, an indication that the Obowo House of Assembly member is withing spitting distances to becoming a PDP member.
It was further gathered that a certain PDP chieftain from Obowo and an ally of Ihedioha is behind Ibe’s move to PDP. Sources close to the lawmaker revealed that the top PDP chieftain is Ibe’s sponsor and mentor irrespective of party differences. The mentor is using the opportunity to lift Ibe high since the chieftain has Ihedioha’s ears.
Further signal that Ibe many defect to PDP from AA can also be observed from a post he made in the social media while reacting to allegations that he has dumped AA for PDP. In the post, the Obowo Assembly member recalled that he was a PDP member 2004 to 2011. Said he “my dear brothers and sisters at my age physically and politically I can’t join any party in social media. Again, it won’t be any reason for anyone to break his/her head over any political decision of mine. I have been a member of PDP from 2004 to 2011. By defect became a member of APGA and then APC, then AA ticket. I’m the mastermind of my political voyage and destroy. If it will take me giving back to PDP to position my local government and of course myself better, it’s all my choice to make”
Trumpeta recalls that in 2011, Senator Ben Uwajumogu who won the Ihitte/Uboma State Assembly seat under APGA had to join APGA to give the party majority that led to his emergence as Speaker
