A governorship aspirant of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Chief Ncheta Omerekpe, has advised the party to organize a public debate for all aspirants for the 2023 polls.
Omerekpe gave the advice at the party Secretariat in Umuahia Wednesday, when he addressed the party leadership on his aspiration to run for governor.
“I want you to organize a debate for all the aspirants, where we should showcase our programmes for the state.
“We should be civil during the debate but we should be ready to speak the truth and expose those who have stolen public funds.
“During the debate, they should tell Abia people how and when they acquired their wealth,” he said.
The governorship hopeful, however, expressed disappointment over the report that Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, had settled for his possible successor.
“The governor should play the role of a father.
“Where two children of the same parents are fighting, the father should not take side with any of them,’’ he said.
Omerekpe said that he came to declare his interest “to contest and win the governorship of the state”.
He said that as a founding member of the party in Abia, he had remained a financier of the state chapter.
Responding, the State’s Chairman of the party, Chief Alwell Okere, urged aspirants for the 2023 general elections to avoid campaign of calumny.
Okere said: “As we go about in our consultations, I want to advise that we should as much as possible be civil in our conduct and utterances.
“Go about your consultations in an orderly manner and with decorum.
“PDP is bigger than all of us and we cannot afford to plunge the party into chaos.
“As much as possible, let us carry ourselves with dignity.
“What we owe all the aspirants as a party is fairness and a level playing field during the primaries’’, he said.