Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has been warned to give up his desire to run for re-election to the Senate for a fifth term or face an outright rejection by voters in the general elections of 2023, according to Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the secretary general of the foremost Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
He was commenting after a political backlash against Abaribe’s plan to run for reelection in 2023 to serve the Abia south senatorial constituency for a fifth term in the National Assembly from political leaders, key players, and sociopolitical groups.
PulseNets recalls that Senator Abaribe, a candidate for governor of Abia, withdrew from the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary elections in May.
Along with leaving the PDP, he also resigned from his position as Minority Leader in the National Assembly’s upper house, alleging illegality, impunity, and hesitations in decision-making.
“This development is consequent upon the shameful display of illegality, impunity and undemocratic decision of the party and after due consultations with my constituents,” he added
In order to pursue his goal of winning a fifth term in the senate in the upcoming general elections in 2023, Senator Abaribe announced on May 27, 2022, that he had joined the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).
Isiguzoro, who is from the Obingwa Local Government Area, which made up the Abia South Senatorial Zone, disapproved of Abaribe’s decision to seek re-election to the Senate for a fifth term and expressed regret that the federal lawmaker had failed to uphold the mandate placed in his hands by the people, particularly with regard to improving their social welfare and bolstering the commendable efforts of well-meaning Abians to raise the bar in Isiguzoro
He said, “The National Assembly, particularly the Senate, is not the birthright of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. He has remained in the senate for the past sixteen years, and has equally done his best. At this point in time, there is an important and urgent need for Abaribe to leave the political stage for other people with the needed and requisite capacity and expertises, to speak and attract necessary federal presence or Infrastructures in Abia south. He has played his role in nation- building, and advancing the course of igbo nation for better developmental welfare packages, and inclusion in governance which are highly celebrated and appreciated by Ndigbo at home and in diaspora.
“I’ll advise him to jettison his ambition to seek fifth term in office, and relinquish the Abia south senatorial seat to someone track records of performance in public or private sector, because we, the people from Abia south cannot afford to reelect or allow Senator Abaribe for 5th term, it will not help in our collective and positive efforts, and desire to deepen democratic process in the country.”
