Enyinnaya Appolos, Special Adviser on Media to Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has given reasons why the governor travelled with President Muhammadu Buhari to London for the maiden UK-Africa Investment Summit.
Mr Appolos, in an article on Sunday, said Ikpeazu was part of the team that travelled with Buhari because of the Enyimba Economic City Project.
Ikpeazu is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The aide also criticised former spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, who is now a PDP member, for his comments about some PDP governors trying to get in Buhari’s good books.
“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,” Appolos said.
“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.”
He added that Ikpeazu would 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.
