Okezie Ikpeazu, the immediate past governor of Abia State, has slammed elected governors who criticise their predecessors after taking over power.

Mr Ikpeazu said those successors are “lady leaders” because they failed to appreciate the good work of their predecessors and build on them.

He said this while delivering a keynote lecture in Abuja on Thursday, with the theme: Showcasing Africa’s Developmental Capacities in the Current Multi-polar Realities.

“Anybody who comes to leadership and starts by saying that everything that his predecessor is doing is bad is a lady leader because you must be able to see what is good and build on it if you have come in the interest of the people,” the former Abia governor said.

Mr Ikpeazu, who governed Abia from 2015 to 2023 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been at loggerheads with his successor, Alex Otti.

Messers Ikpeazu and Otti have been locked in bitter recriminations almost as soon as power changed hands in 2023.

Last year, Mr Otti accused Mr Ikpeazu of withdrawing N1.9 trillion from the state government’s treasury during his administration.

The governor had contracted a private auditing firm, KPMG International Nigeria Limited, to audit the state government’s finances to investigate the eight-year tenure of Mr Ikpeazu.