Traditional rulers from Ngwa land, led by Eze Isaac Ikonne, have given their blessings to the governorship bid of the standard-bearer of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Chief Chikwe Udensi.
Speaking in his palace when Chief Udensi paid him homage, Eze Ikonne, who stated that he had been on the throne for the past 43 years, said as a frontline traditional ruler, he reserved the right to receive any of the governorship candidates of the various political parties.
“We are traditional rulers, the fathers to all and as such, we are not supposed to close the gates of our palaces to any politician no matter the political party,” he said.
The revered ruler told his august visitor that he had all it took to be the governor of the state going by his past antecedents, but reminded him that anybody who wanted to rule Abia State must make the rehabilitation of Aba roads his priority. “From what I have heard about you in the past and seen of you, you possess the qualities of a good leader, but one thing I have to remind you is that any person that wants to govern Abia State must put the rehabilitation of Aba roads as his first priority,” he said.
He urged the PPA governorship candidate to appeal to his members not to engage in political thuggery, stressing that Abia needed peace now more than ever.
Speaking earlier, Chief Udensi said he came to pay homage to the monarch as a mark of respect to a ruler, who he described as first among equals.
He poured encomiums on the traditional ruler who he said was among the very few that had been speaking the truth in the face of adversities and prayed God to give him long life.
Udensi promised to rehabilitate Aba roads, create another satellite city out of Aba and pay workers’ salaries promptly if elected the governor of the state in 2015.
