You Blackmailed Jonathan, Used and Dumped by APC” – Abia Gov. Ikpeazu replies Timi

[Edoman]

You Blackmailed Jonathan, Used and Dumped by APC” – Abia Gov. Ikpeazu replies Timi Frank

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January 18, 




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-The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, through his media aide, Eyinnaya Appolos has replied accusations levelled against his person by a Popular PDP stalwart, Timi Frank.


On Saturday, Frank flayed Ikpeazu in a statement made available to the Press over his recent trip to the United Kingdom with President Muhammadu Buhari. Frank claimed that all PDP governors except Nyesom Wike actively lobbied to travel with the President, who is a member of the ruling APC.


Below is the full statement by Appolos;
“First, let us go to the Bible: 
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NLT), “For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. 


A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.” So says the Word of God.”


“For Timi Frank, the disgraced former Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a strange-bed fellow in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), there is time for only one thing – time to seek personal comfort and self-aggrandizement.”


“For this reason, he was sacked as the APC Spokesperson, after his errand boy role in the league of politicians that blackmailed the Goodluck Jonathan and PDP led presidency, paving the way for President Mohammad Buhari and APC presidency, expired. Obviously, he was merely used and easily discarded. He was not worth more than that!”



“Evidence that he was never a member of the PDP, Timi did not speak as a faithful party man, but as a job-man, hiding under political activism.”


“It is, therefore, trite to conclude that he was truly a strange bedfellow in PDP prior to the 2019 general elections, whose only interest was what to gain in the Atiku Presidential ambition, which leaders of the party like Governor Okezie Ikpeazu worked genuinely hard to ensure was a success.”



“It is difficult to place why a Timi Frank, who was anonymous and unable to deliver PDP even in his ward in Bayelsa State during the last presidential election which PDP lost to APC, will try to vent his unguarded spleen on Governor Ikpeazu who has remained a committed member of the PDP.”


“Governor Ikpeazu is not just a member of the PDP in Ward 7, in Obingwa LGA of Abia State, he is the leader of the party in the state and one of the national leaders of the party. A committed and trusted one at that.
He was first elected Governor by Abians on the PDP platform in 2015 when Timi and his cohorts were busy frolicking in APC. In 2019, Governor Ikpeazu was re-elected by the Abia electorate on the same PDP platform. So, his primary assignment and loyalty is first to Abians, who employed him before even the platform.”


“As earlier said, according to the Bible, for everything, there is a time. The time for frontline party politics is over, the time we are in now, particularly for Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in Abia, is the time for governance. I hope Timi understands this?”


“Yes, Governor Ikpeazu is part of the Nigerian delegation led by Mr President, to the maiden UK- AFRICA INVESTMENT SUMMIT in London, United Kingdom. The arrangement for this trip had long been concluded before the controversial and unfair ruling of the Supreme Court that sacked Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as Governor of Imo State took place. It was the sad judicial development that provoked the emergency PDP NEC meeting at about the same time Governor Ikpeazu was airborne to the UK.”


“In case Timi is not aware, Governor Ikpeazu is not on the President Buhari-led delegation to the
maiden UK- AFRICA INVESTMENT SUMMIT holding in London because he wants to enjoy the comfort of the presidential jet, but the Scholar-in-Governance Governor of Abia State is on the delegation because he is the bearer of one of the most important reasons Nigeria is part of the summit – the Enyimba Economic City Project.


Recall that in 2018, the Federal Government and Abia State Government signed Definitive Agreements for the Enyimba Economic City Zone Limited.”


“The signing took place at the Presidential Villa and the Federal Government was represented by Nigeria Special Economic Zone Company. President Muhammadu Buhari, who witnessed the signing, commended Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for initiating the Project, and thanked the Abia State host communities for their commitment to it.”


“The President further assured the people of Abia State and other Nigerians of the Federal Government’s support and cooperation towards similar projects anywhere in the country. President Buhari specifically commended Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, and some private sector investors who initiated and midwifed the Enyimba Economic City Zone project.”


“He said such initiatives were exactly what his administration was desperately looking for to create employment for the populace and boost the nation’s economy. So, the inclusion of Governor Ikpeazu on the delegation to the maiden UK-AFRICA INVESTMENT SUMMIT in London, is another opportunity for Nigeria, through Governor Ikpeazu, to speak to the world about the Enyimba Economic City project, and why their buy-in is necessary.”



“At the UK summit, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will be hosting African leaders, International Business Chief Executives and Heads of International Organizations, to create new partnerships that will deliver more investments and jobs to the benefit of people and businesses in African countries and the UK.”


“Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, as the initiator of the Enyimba Economic City project will speak to selected potential investors, on the invitation of the Department for International Development (DFID), on the need to key into the project situated in Aba.”


“Recall also that in November 2019, Governor Ikpeazu secured the nod of the African Development Bank (AfDB), private investors and other multilateral financial institutions for the investment of $430 million to fast track the development of the first phase of Enyimba Economic City, at the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) that held in Johannesburg, South Africa.”
“The city is a proposed free-trade zone, with independent business registry, labour law, banking regulations and more. It is located on over 9,500 hectares of land in the oil-producing communities of Abia State, between Aba and Port Harcourt.”


“Many participants at the South African forum agreed that Enyimba Economic City is a project worthy of their commitment and demonstrated their willingness to invest in the City.The UK- AFRICA INVESTMENT SUMMIT has presented, yet, another opportunity for Governor Ikpeazu to speak, expound and present the Enyimba Economic City project at the world stage.”


“Much as Governor Ikpeazu is not responsible for Timi’s unguarded spleen, no leader would prefer to attend a party meeting to attending a Summit where his ideas and programs for his people will be beamed at the global stage. I can assure Timi Frank that even the PDP is proud of this City, being the brainchild of one of its leading stars. Indeed there is time for everything.”

[Edoman]

 Timi Frank Replies Governor Ikpeazu: You Are Nothing But APC's Mole In PDP



Press Release
January 20, 2020

Frank replies Gov. Ikpeazu: You are nothing but APC's mole in PDP

A political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Timi Frank, has replied the Abia state governor, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, describing the governor as a mole in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor who issued a statement on Sunday attacking the former APC spokeman over his earlier statement that most PDP governors were not committed to the opposition politics in Nigeria.

But responding back to Ikeazu through another statement on Monday, Comrade Frank, said rather than apologise for the misadventure, "the Abia state governor's shallow defence as to why he chose to jet out with the President at the expense of his party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting buttressed the belief in some quarters that he is indeed an All Progressives Congress (APC) mole even as a PDP governor.

"In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Queen Gertrude said: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". She did this in reference to the insincere overacting of a character in the play.

"From that day to today, nothing has changed. Insincerity is most obvious in overly dramatic denials. And this is what we see with Okezie Victor Ikpeazu’s response to my candid observation.

"The popular saying that an old woman is always uneasy at the mention of dry bones manifested itself in the reply of the incompetent Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu to my statement I criticised him for hopping off to London with President Muhammadu Buhari in the midst of a serious national and political onslaught against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Imo State.

"Playing the ostrich, Ikpeazu pinned his trip with the President to the UK-Africa Investment Summit on the quest market his proposed Enyimba Economic City Project to foreign investors.

"Does a man go on a jamboree when his house is on fire? That is the question that Ikpeazu should answer rather than play acting in his protests that represent his guilty conscience."

The Bayelsa born activist also cleared the air over the allegagtion made by the governor that he (Frank) was used and dumped by the APC saying: "Let it be known to the indolent Governor that I resigned from the All Progressives Congress and refused to hero-worship General Buhari when the APC derailed and began to pursue anti-people agenda rather than what they promised Nigerians. How can I then be compared to an Ikpeazu, whose sycophantic laugh almost tore his mouth while he was throwing himself at General Buhari, to secure his post gubernatorial future?

"For the records, I stood my grounds while in the APC and I resigned my position as a principled person and not because of any political gain. And since the governor talks about political worth and jobbing, perhaps it is pertinent to expose him at this juncture for who he truly is.

"That Ikpeazu calls himself a national leader of the PDP is self delusional dream. Within the party, he is known for what he is, an unreliable person who would rather jamboree while there is fire at his doorstep. In case he does not know, Ikpeazu is as relevant to the PDP as the “P” in psychology.

"It is most unfortunate that in Ikpeazu's little world and mindset, it is only with the President that he can get attention from. This reflects his lack of initiative, drive and dynamism to push any project to profitability."

Discussing the reason why the governor traveled with the President, Frank emphasize that "projects such as Tinapa in Cross River state and the mechanised farm in Kwara state, sold themselves out to foreign investors on account of well-thought-out and executed marketing strategies which the governors of the states embarked on at the time and not because they carried empty brief cases on presidential trips looking for uninterrupted hours of snitching and mundane political theatrics with the President.

" One wonder the kinds of investors Ikpeazu is looking for in UK when he is one of the worst governor who is not consistent in paying workers salary in his state."

On why the governor is a mole in the PDP, Frank said Ikpeazu was among the PDP governors that gave General Buhari and the APC 25 percent votes in return for 2nd term, "in short, Ikpeazu is a confirmed PDP by the day and APC at night.

"The Abia governor capitulated when he posited in his reply that, 'Much as Governor Ikpeazu is not responsible for Timi’s unguarded spleen, no leader would prefer to attend a party meeting to attending a Summit where his ideas and programs for his people will be beamed at the global stage.'

"If for the sake of argument we yield to this convoluted reasoning of his, is he also saying that that the PDP’s NEC was not worth the attention of his deputy? Clearly he was sending a clear message of disdain to the party to impress his pay masters.

"When I alluded to Ikpeazu as a political hatchet man and mole for the APC, no fact underscores this than the 2015 and 2019 presidential election results in Abia State.

"Can Ikpeazu who regards himself as a PDP national leader explain to Nigerians how General Buhari and the APC scored 13,394 votes against the PDP's 368,303 in the 2015 presidential election - removing from the list of states that the APC had 25 per cent and then clearly explain to Nigerians, how in 2019 presidential elections, the APC and General Buhari scored 85,058 and PDP PDP scored a depleted 219, 698 votes?

"The simple answer to this eye popping revelation is the liability Ikpeazu is to the PDP and the reason he is all cheeks in smile with the President and perhaps while he will continue to be a sacred cow at the Supreme Court.

"May it not be the lot of Abians and the PDP in particular that tax payers money is being blown on the altar of presidential patronage and clandestine investor chase.

"Ikpeazu can catch his fun and be a political undertaker, however, the PDP and Abia people deserve more compassion."

Signed:
Comrade Timi Frank
Political Activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC
Abuja.