Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Abia State governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Professor Greg Ibe, has dismissed as lie from the pit of hell, the report of his purported withdrawal for the younger brother of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and candidate of the Action Peoples Party, APP, Mr Mascot Uzor Kalu.
Professor Ibe said the fake and misleading report was mischievous planted to possibly confuse and deceive his teeming supporters.
The APGA governorship candidate said it was an insult to his person to step down for Kalu who by all standards, is not his match.
He, however, noted that the sponsors of the fallacious report have always benefited through mischief but said they would meet their Waterloo.
Professor Ibe in a statement by the Director General of his Campaign Council, Dr Longman Nwachukwu, urged his supporters and members of the public to disregard the mischievous report.
He said he was still in the governorship race with his running mate, Hon. Obinna Ichita, and could not have stepped down for any attention seeker.
Professor Ibe cautioned media practitioners against peddling false and unconfirmed stories, saying such unpatriotic acts have grave implications.
He advised journalists against making themselves willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians to create chaos in society.
Professor Ibe threatened legal action against the publishers of the fallacious report while demanding that the fallacious report be pulled down immediately.
Below is a full text of the statement made available to Ikengaonline:
“Our attention has been drawn to a fallacious and apparently malicious online publication by Famous Reporters mischievously purporting a fairy tale withdrawal from the governorship race by Prof Gregory Ibe of Abia APGA for Mascot Uzor Kalu of APP.
“We therefore write to make the following clarifications:That the said publication is completely false, totally mendacious and the hallucinatory imagination of the publisher of the infamous Famous Reporters, who in search for cheap publicity decided to concoct a totally baseless and unfounded fallacy against the person of Prof Ibe.
“That there is no reason for Prof Ibe to withdraw from a race which every available poll analysis places him above other contenders.
“That the write up is a big joke and a clear insult on the person of Prof Ibe, who has so far manifested seriousness by triumphing over many adversaries in 19 out of 22 court cases at Magistrate, High, Appeal and Supreme Court levels, in pursuit of this same governorship project.
“That we consider as highly provocative insinuations contained in the said article since without sounding immodest, Mr Mascot Kalu, the candidate of APP, in every ramification is too junior to the person of Prof Ibe and should subsequently be seen according due respect and honour to his elder.
“That the article is nothing but a failed attempt at applying the propaganda strategy of deploying a strong brand like Prof Ibe to accord visibility to a weaker brand which Mascot Kalu represents through the act of name dropping.
“That Famous Reporters is advised to immediately bring down the fake publication and subsequently publish and circulate widely an apology or be prepared to meet us in court for libel as our lawyers have been properly briefed.
“That the public should disregard the publication as a fabricated lie from the pit of hell and the hatchet job of a desperate pen pusher for little pecuniary benefits and should rather sustain their vociferous, aggressive and massive support for Prof Ibe whose chiefest pursuit remains the liberation of Abia state from many years of under development, which Mascot Kalu and his family participated in and greatly benefited from.”
