Sacked Abia governor, Okezie Ikpeazu heads for Supreme Court

Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu has filed a suit at the Supreme Court challenging the Court of Appeal ruling that nullified his victory in the last governorship election in the State.

The lead Counsel for the governor, Mr. Chibuike Nwokeukwu, who disclosed this at a media briefing on Monday after a meeting of elders of Ukwa and Ngwa political bloc at Osisioma Aba, said the Appeal Court judgment was a rape of justice, which required further subjection to legal test at the Supreme Court.

Nwokeukwu urged Abia people to disregard the rumour making the rounds that the Court of Appeal had asked that Dr. Alex Otti of APGA be sworn in on Tuesday, stressing that Ikpeazu remains the state governor until proved otherwise by the apex court.

The convener of the meeting, Dr. Emmanuel Adaelu, said the politicians came together to air their grievances over the verdict of the Court of Appeal in Owerri last week.

Adaelu said, “We feel very distressed, embarrassed, highly annoyed and we feel that the judgment was a total deprivation of our fundamental human rights particularly when we found out that the reason given for declaring the opponent of the PDP candidate was that the election results were cancelled in Obingwa, the home of the governor, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North local governments.

“To us, this is a rape of justice and it is unfair. We do not know why the judges we consider to hold the trust of the nation in relation to justice decided to give that kangaroo verdict. How can a court decide to cancel elections in three local governments of Ngwaland and the local government of Governor Ikpeazu?

“That is to say that he did not vote for himself. We feel very distressed because of this disenfranchisement of our people. We have never seen its parallel in the history of election verdicts.”

Adaelu added that Ikpeazu’s legal team would certainly challenge the Appeal Court judgment at the Supreme Court, hoping that the apex court will reverse the judgment.

He noted that the Ukwa and Ngwa people with nine out of the 17 LGAs had a history of political deprivation in Abia, adding that the opportunity they have in producing Ikpeazu will not be frittered away.

Also, the former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, said that the Ukwa and Ngwa people would fight for justice until the judgment against Ikpeazu was reversed.

Wabara wondered how over 300,000 registered voters could be disenfranchised against their wishes, even as he called on the National Judicial Council to look into the judgment and act accordingly.


Credit: Punch