By Sleek Ogwo
Prof Gregory Ibe,Abia State Guber hopeful under the banner of All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA), has commenced aggressive state wide engagement with different stakeholders within the polity.
While the campaign council under the helmsmanship of Dr Longman Nwachukwu partners with the Deputy National Chairman South, Chief Uchenna Okogbuo, State Chairman Rev Augustine Ehiemere and Chairman of Advisory Board, Prince Emeka Okafor, to embark on intensive grassroots tour of the 184 electoral wards in the state, Lolo Joy Ibe, wife of Prof Ibe has undertaken the task of mobilizing Abia women across the 17 Local Government Councils to embrace the APGA ideology of Onyeaghalanwanneya.
Prof Ibe and his deputy Hon Obinna Ichita on the other hand are currently visiting and engaging Abia elites living within the state and in the diaspora, with the task of presenting to them the 151-page ‘A New Abia’ manifesto blueprint that contains workable strategies aimed at ‘developing Abia into a dynamic state and making her a prime destination and leader among states in Nigeria’.
Be it at the Abia Central Senatorial District version of the ward tour where DG Nwachukwu is leading his team to expound the comparative advantages of deploying a man with immense capacity, competence and credibility in the person of Prof Ibe to change the Abia narrative, or at the Abia South Senatorial District edition where Rev Ehiemere continuous to emphasize the need to elect Prof Ibe because of his track record in the field of unmatched social intervention packages for the people, or in the five local government councils of Abia North Senatorial District, where Prince Emeka Okafor consistently buttresses the fact that both equity and performance favour Prof Ibe, feelers from the ward tour indicate grassroots acceptance of Prof Ibe and the APGA brand.
The strategy of getting the women on board the APGA train has subsequently taken Lolo Joy Ibe to different parts of the state including Umuahia, Ohafia, Item and Isuikwuato, with many other locations already lined up in the coming days.
Probably the strongest strategy adopted by Prof Ibe is the technique of direct person to person contact with select groups of Abia intelligentsia.This technique has provided him the platform of discussing and analysing the problems of Abia, and from his privileged background of consulting to international bodies, he has been able to proffer solutions that can lead to economic resurgence for the state. In some of such engagements with the business class in Aba, he was able to allay the fears expressed by captains of industry on the dwindling fortunes of the city that was once famed as the ‘Japan of Africa’.
So as the 2023 general election approaches, one party that seems determined to takeover power from an incumbent party is APGA in Abia state and the candidate arrow heading the multi-pronged all-inclusive campaign technique targeted at achieving this feat is Prof Gregory Ibe.
…Sleek Ogwo, is Director, Media and Publicity, Prof Gregory Ibe Campaign Organization
