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—will be 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.
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 stated focuses 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.