A member of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Paul Ikonne has formally declared his intention to contest the Abia South senatorial seat, currently held by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, citing what he described as a lack of visible impact after nearly two decades in office.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Ikonne urged the lawmaker to step down while arguing that Abia South deserves better representation at the national level.
“Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is a respected personality from the South, Abia South Senatorial Zone. But having spent close to 20 years in the Senate, the impact is not felt as much as the years that he has spent at the Senate and the other zones in Abia, they are moving faster than us. So what Abia South people are saying is our elder brother should start coming back home. There are other responsibilities that he can take up that are waiting for him back here at home.
“While they urge me to go and connect our zone with the national level, having had experience of working at the national level at the level of being the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of NALDA. So they deem it fit to say, ‘Senator Abaribe, you have tried, please come back home.’ Now, why we want to represent our people and replace him is that Abia South is a critical and most essential senatorial zone in Abia State. And the people believe as much as I do believe as well, that it is time for him to come back home so that we will inject new blood and new ideas into the red chambers,” he said.
Speaking on the endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ikonne dismissed doubts, saying it reflects growing grassroots support across Abia State, not just elite backing.
“If you look at the number of people and the type of people that came out, you will agree with me that it was grassroots-oriented endorsement. Again, you did mention that PDP, yes, PDP was in charge some days, some years back, but those members of PDP, they have emptied into APC,” he revealed.
On the new ideas he would bring if elected, Ikonne said he would prioritise constituency projects, improve federal connections for Abia South, and drive development in agriculture, trade, and key local industries.
“We have a lot of ideas, but I will have to mention this, that from what I know, what I see, legislative role requires collaboration, connection, contact, agreeing to agree or disagreeing to agree in order to drive dividends of democracy back home. There’s what is called constituency project. Abia South does not know what is constituency project.
“There’s nowhere you will go in the entire six local government that you will see any project as executed known as constituency project in any place. So we are going to drive that. We are going to connect our zone with the agencies of government at the national level to draw their attention to the plight of our people.
“We have agricultural institutions. Our people are farmers. We have a lot of women and youth that are yearning to be into agriculture that requires the connect between the federal level and our local people. So these are the things we are going to be bringing on board.
“We are going to put ourselves, the zone, the senatorial zone forward, local government by local government as the needs are on ground. The Ariaria International Market requires federal attention. Somebody needs to stand up and speak up for the traders in Aba. Somebody needs to stand up and speak up for the Ukwa, the oil-producing local government. So our ideas will be to connect our zone with stakeholders at the national level,” he shared.
Favour Odima.
