2023: How Greg Ibe deflated Chikwe Udensi, clinches party guber ticket 3 months into APGA

One  who does not know Chief Chikwe Udensi before would not be aware that this man is not as popular as he would have the general public believe.

Of course, he parades himself as an international security expert, a former Executive Secretary of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), and a national chairman of the defunct PPA, and chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA.

But is Udensi really a man of the people, having contested for governorship since 2015 and losing woefully in every outing?

Let’s even look at his most adventurous outing, which was just last year, 2023.

Chikwe Udensi set out as the leader of APGA in Abia State, and of course, the chances of him losing the party ticket never arose, having been in charge of the party’s affairs since 2015.

Then, while the primaries approached, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP ran into its own challenges, forcing many of its chieftains to defect.

One of the major persons who exited the PDP and opted for APGA was Professor Gregory Ibeh, the founder of Gregory University Uturu. He was also interested in becoming the next governor of Abia State.

Udensi, instead of welcoming Ibeh with open arms, wanted to remain like a lone giant tree in a forest who won’t let any other tree grow by it’s side. Despite Ibeh’s fame and the fact that he defected with thousands of his team members and supporters to APGA.

So when the APGA primaries came up, it was a heculian task to challenge ‘ndi nwe obodo’ like Udensi.

So on May 29, 2022, Ibeh went into the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship primary elections, alongside Major Ijiomah, Chief Chikwe Udensi and Bar Etigwe Uwa.

The election took place at the Kolping Society in Umuahia, the capital city of Abia State.

The primaries was keenly contested and Prof Greg Ibe, who was only three months old in the party polled a whopping 283 votes to win his close rival, Bar Etigwe Uwa who polled a total votes of 148.

Major Ijiomah polled a total votes of 36. Meanwhile, Chief Chikwee Udensi polled a total votes of mere 12.

The primary elections was supervised and conducted by the representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) officials and other security agencies.

Seeing that he has lost out, Udensi had quickly gone to Villa Roy Hotel in Umuahia, to declare himself winner of another kangaroo primaries. Claiming that he polled 433 votes, he alps claimed that he was the only contestant and unopposed.

Of course, INEC ignored him, having declared Ibe winner.

Despite his grandstanding, Udensi failed woefully as a party stalwart, proving that he lacked popularity among members of his party. If not, why did they not vote for him? Why choose a new kid on the block?

As the country settles down after the 2023 elections, Udensi is the only Abian that seem to be gearing for governorship elections coming up in fat away 2027.

One only hopes that his fortunes in terms of popularity will not dim further before the polls.