The 2023 Abia State gubernatorial election took place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Abia State, concurrent with elections to the Abia State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election, which was postponed from its original 11 March date, was held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent PDP governor Okezie Ikpeazu was term-limited and could not seek a third term. Alex Otti, a banker, gained the office for the Labour Party by a margin of victory over first runner-up and PDP nominee—Okey Ahiwe, the former chief of staff to Ikpeazu.
Alex Otti won 10 of the 17 local government areas in the state with a total vote of 175,467.
Party primaries were scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022 with the Labour Party nominating Otti on 9 June. For the All Progressives Congress, two separate parallel primaries were held on 26 May with one primary nominating economist Ikechi Emenike and the other primary picking former minister Uche Ogah. INEC initially recognised Emenike as the legitimate nominee in July after a court ruled in his favour but switched recognition to Ogah after his successful November appeal; however, the next month a new court ruling reinstated Emenike as the APC nominee. The All Progressives Grand Alliance nominated educationist Gregory Ibe on 29 May; however, a Federal High Court ruling nullified the primary on 1 December due to irregularities in the primary with a February Court of Appeal ruling barring the party from fielding a nominee. The Peoples Democratic Party nominated professor Uche Ikonne on 25 May but Ikonne died in January 2023, prompting a new primary on 4 February which resulted in the nomination of Ahiwe.
Electoral system The Governor of Abia State is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive the plurality of the vote and over 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of local government areas. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held.
Background Abia State is a small, Igbo-majority southeastern state; although it is one of the most developed states in the nation, Abia has faced challenges in security as both the nationwide kidnapping epidemic and separatist violence have heavily affected the region. Originally launched ostensibly to defend ethnic Igbos from herdsmen and government attacks, the separatist organization Indigenous People of Biafra's Eastern Security Network began violently enforcing economically destructive weekly lockdowns in 2021 and swiftly were criticized for committing human rights abuses against civilians it was meant to protect. These atrocities coupled with law enforcement brutality and herder–farmer clashes worsened the security situation prior to the election.
Politically, the 2019 elections were categorized as a solidification of the Abia PDP's control but a slight expansion of the APC on the federal level. Statewise, Ikpeazu won re-election with over 60% of the vote and the vast majority of House of Assembly seats were won by the PDP. On the other hand, while the PDP was still successful federally, it lost ground only winning seven House of Representatives seats and two Senate seats compared to all nine and all three in 2015. For the presidency, Abia was easily won by PDP nominee Atiku Abubakar with about 68% but still swung towards the APC and had strikingly low turnout.
During Ikpeazu's second term, his administration focus included support for small and medium-sized enterprises, water resource management, and infrastructure development; however, he was routinely criticized for lack of action on transportation infrastructure projects. After being accused of abandoning a four-year-long flyover project, Ikpeazu's response of deriding questioners as walkers that "don’t have [the] vehicles" to use the uncompleted flyover was widely criticized as arrogant and out-of-touch. At other points during his administration Ikpeazu was criticized for poor waste management, his unfounded initial dismissal of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and the unilateral sacking of three local government chairman in June 2020 while being praised for expanding access to clean water.
In 2022, Alex Otti declared for governorship under Labour Party, promising to reduce the unemployment rate, tackle insecurity, provide quality education to the state and restore local government's autonomy. In 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of the state's governorship election.
Primary elections The primaries, along with any potential challenges to primary results, were to take place between 4 April and 3 June 2022 but the deadline was extended to 9 June. An informal zoning gentlemen's agreement and the formal Abia Charter of Equity sets the Abia North Senatorial District to have the next governor as Abia North has not held the governorship since 2007. Within Abia North, the Ohafia clan of the southern part of Abia North has claimed to be next in line for the governorship as the previous Abia North Governor (Orji Uzor Kalu) was from the northern part of Abia North.
However, no major party closed their primaries to either non-Northern or non-Ohafia candidates as the PDP nominated someone from the central district while APGA nominated a northerner.
All Progressives Congress The year prior to the APC primaries were beset by party infighting between factions led by Ikechi Emenike and Donatus Nwankpa, culminating in two parallel party congresses in October 2021. Analysts contest that the party crisis had to be resolved if the APC was to be competitive in the general election. Emenike's grouping eventually won out and was recognized by the national party in February 2022 but the party infighting continued until the primary. As primaries neared, Emenike and state party chairman Kingsley Ononogbu stated that the primary would not be zoned and would open to all aspirants.
On 20 April 2022, the APC National Executive Committee announced the party's schedule for gubernatorial primaries, setting its expression of interest form price at ₦10 million and nomination form price at ₦40 million with a 50% nomination form discount for candidates younger than 40 while women and candidates with disabilities get free nomination forms. Forms were to be sold from 26 April to 6 May until the deadline was later extended to 10 May then 12 May. After the submission of nomination forms by 13 May, candidates were screened by a party committee on 14 and 15 May while 16 May was the date for the screening appeal process. Ward congresses and LGA congresses were set for between 7 and 9 May to elect delegates for the primary. Candidates approved by the screening process advanced to a primary set for 26 May, in concurrence with other APC gubernatorial primaries; challenges to the result could be made the next day.
On the primary date, two parallel primaries were held with Emenike's grouping holding an indirect primary at the Chidiebere Arena while the other candidates held a direct primary (citing a national APC directive for a direct primary in Abia) that carried on into the next day. After both primaries were peacefully held, the Chidiebere Arena primary ended in Emenike winning by a wide margin while the direct primary resulted in a victory for former minister Uche Ogah. It was expected that the APC National Working Committee and/or litigation would decide which primary was legitimate but the state party quickly lined up behind Emenike. When Ogah sued to prevent Emenike's recognition, a Court of Appeal sided with Emenike and threw out the lawsuit. In mid-August, Emenike selected Gloria Akara—a Christian minister from Ukwa East LGA—as his running mate. Another lawsuit against Emenike, from Daniel Eke, was dismissed by a High Court in October. The Emenike candidacy was derailed in November when Ogah—who had appealed the previous judgement against him—won his case before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, declaring Emenike's nomination invalid and affirming Ogah's nomination. However, the next month, a Court of Appeal ruling overturned that decision and reinstated Emenike as the legitimate nominee.
Nominated Ikechi Emenike: 2019 APC gubernatorial candidate and husband of Ambassador to the United States Uzoma Emenike Running mate—Gloria Akara
Eliminated in primary Uche Ogah: former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development (2019–2022) and 2019 APC gubernatorial nominee Emeka Atuma: former House of Representatives member for Umuahia North/Umuahia South/Ikwuano (2003–2007) Daniel Eke: accountant
Paul Ikonne: Executive Secretary of National Agricultural Land Development Authority (2020–present) Obinna Oriaku: former Commissioner for Finance (2015–2019)
Withdrew Michael Kasarachi Enyinna: 2019 APC Ukwa East/Ukwa West House of Representatives candidate (to run for senator for Abia South) Alex Otti: 2015 and 2019 APGA gubernatorial nominee (defected prior to the primary to successfully run in the LP gubernatorial primary)
Declined Nnanna Uzor Kalu: former House of Representatives member for Aba North/Aba South (2003–2011) and brother of Senator for Abia North and former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu Nkechi Nwaogu: former Senator for Abia Central (2007–2015) and former House of Representatives member for Obingwa/Ugwunagbo/Osisioma (2003–2007) Friday Nwosu: 2019 APC gubernatorial candidate and barrister
Results
All Progressives Grand Alliance On 25 March 2022, the national APGA announced its primary schedule, setting its expression of interest form price at ₦3 million and the nomination form price at ₦12 million with a 50% discount for women candidates and candidates with disabilities. Forms were to be sold from 29 March to 11 April but the deadline was extended to 15 April; after the purchase of forms, gubernatorial candidates were screened by a party committee on 22 and 23 April while the screening appeal process was held on 5 May. Ward congresses were set for 10 May to elect delegates for the primary. Candidates approved by the screening process advanced to a primary set for 29 May, in concurrence with all other APGA gubernatorial primaries; challenges to the result could be made on 31 May.
On the primary date, the four candidates contested an indirect primary that ended with Gregory Ibe emerging as the PDP nominee after results showed Ibe winning around 54% of the delegates' votes. In his acceptance speech, Ibe called for his opponents to unify the party but one of them, Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma, immediately rejected the results. Both of the other opponents later also rejected Ibe's win and separately went to court to challenge the results. In July, Ibe's running mate was announced as Obinna Ichita—a MHA. However, on December 1, Udensi's lawsuit was successful as a Federal High Court ruling annulled the primary and ordered APGA to conduct a new primary within fourteen days. The party stated its intent to appeal the ruling instead of holding a new primary. However, its appeal was dismissed by a Court of Appeal judgment on 8 February 2023 and, since the High Court's fourteen days limit had elapsed, the judgment also barred APGA from fielding a gubernatorial nominee in the election. Ibe rejected the ruling and immediately began to appeal process which led to the reinstatement of Ibe as nominee.
Nominated Gregory Ibe: founder and Chancellor of Gregory University Running mate—Obinna Ichita: House of Assembly member for Aba South
Eliminated in primary Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma: former Army major general Chikwe Udensi: businessman Etigwe Uwa: lawyer
Results
People's Democratic Party