Pandemonium Looms In Abia As 2 Governors Lock Horns

Pandemonium may ensue in Abia State should the relevant authorities refuse to wade in and solve the legal puzzles currently taking over the politics of the state as two members of the Peoples Democratic Party are laying claim to a governor's seat.

Mr. Uche Ogar has insisted that he is the rightful governor of Abia state and has to be sworn-in in obedience to the ruling of the Abuja High court.

Ogar in a statement by his Media Adviser, Monday Ubani, stated that the ruling by the Abia state high court stopping his swearing in is subordinate to that of the Abuja court, and hence cannot hold.

Ogar also stated that he was on his way to Abia state to be sworn in.

This is likely to create a faceoff, between his tam and that of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who has also insisted that he remains the governor of the state, based on the ruling of the state high court.

The statement from Ogar reads: “The Federal high court of Abuja presided over by Justice Okon Abang ordered Dr Okezie Ikpeazu to vacate his seat for Dr Uche Ogah OON as the rightful person for the seat. INEC was ordered to issue the said Ogah with a certificate of return which that body has complied with”.

“The next order that was issued by the federal high court was for the Chief Judge of Abia to swear in Dr Uche Ogah, the rightful person to occupy the governor’s seat. That order is yet to be complied with”.

“I understand that a high court in Osisioma Ngwa the axis where the governor hails from has issued an interim order restraining the Chief Judge from swearing in Dr Uche Ogah as the governor of the State. The point must be made that this order cannot stand as it is invalid in law”.

Read also: I won’t handover, I remain gov, Ikpeazu says

“The order did not emanate from a higher court but from a court of coordinate jurisdiction and does not in any vitiate or invalidate the earlier judgement of the Federal High Court in which the Chief Judge of Abia State was ordered to swear in Dr Uche Sampson Ogah. Only a higher court, in this case Court of Appeal has the jurisdiction to reverse the judgement of the Federal High Court”.

“Note also that appeal of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu before the Court of Appeal does not operate as a stay over the judgement of Justice Okon Abang. In the absence of any express order of the high court or the court of appeal ordering stay of execution, the judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on the 27th of June, 2016 should be obeyed by all the parties.”

Speaking through another aide, Peter Agba Kalu, Mr. Ogah said he was on his way to Umuahia, the Abia State capital for swearing in.

He said, “We are en route to Umuahia for the swearing in from Imo Airport.

“We don’t believe there is an injunction like that. The injunction is baseless and against the rules of the judiciary”.

“Is the injunction saying that the Certificate of return issued to Uche Ogah is not legal. Is it saying that Abia should not have a Governor because the Certificate of return nollifies that issued to Ikpeazu”, the statement read.

“We also have a directive by the CJN that he should be sworn in immediately. So that injunction to the best of our knowledge does not exist and where it exist is null and void because it has already been overtaken by events.”

Meanwhile, As soon as INEC’s issuance of the Certificate of Return to Ogah was announced, Gov­ernor Okezie Ikpeazu rushed to the law courts to obtain an ex- parte order restraining the Chief Judge or any other judge of the court or any judicial of­ficer of the state from swearing-in Ogah as the new governor of the state.

And after receiving his cer­tificate from INEC, Ogah took a chartered flight from Abuja to Umuahia, the state capital, for the oath-taking ceremony. He, how­ever, ended up in Owerri, the Imo State capital, where he un­veiled his governance blueprint for the state.

Ikpeazu also rose to the chal­lenge, when he appealed to the people to remain calm and as­sured them that the matter would be resolved by the courts.

In the court injunction he issued yesterday, Justice C. H. Ahuchaogu, of the Osisioma Ju­dicial Division, restrained INEC from issuing certificate of return to Ogah “while the claimant (Ik­peazu) remains in office.”

Ikpeazu had, through his counsel, Mr. O. O. Nkume, filed an ex parte motion seeking an order of the court to stop Ogah from being sworn in as the Gov­ernor of the state.

The defendants in the motion are: Ogah (first defendant), INEC (second defendant) and the Abia State Chief Judge (third defend­ant).

As the confusion and politi­cal tension in the state threatened to boil over into unrests, Ikpeazu appealed to the people to remain calm in spite of the unsavoury de­velopments.

He insisted that he was still in charge. In a press statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Enyin­naya Apollos, the governor ex­pressed surprise over INEC’s ac­tion despite his notice of appeal against the Justice Okon Abang’s judgement that ordered him to vacate office.

He said: “I have received, with concern, reports of the purported issuance of certificate of return to Mr. Uche Ogah by INEC as governor of Abia State, despite the pendency of a notice of appeal and motion for stay of the orders made by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

“Our laws are clear on this matter. No one may be issued with a certificate of return, let alone be sworn in as governor when there is a subsisting appeal and application for stay.

“I want to appeal to Abians to remain calm and law-abiding in the face of this provocation, un­less and until the appellant courts have conclusively resolved the appeal; the status remains, I am still the governor of Abia State,” he said.

Abia: A State With 2 Governors

Confusion has rented the air in Abia State as the situation in the state suggests there are currently two governors.

Following the Sack of Dr .Okezie Ikpeazu, over alleged tax evasion by Federal High Court in Abuja and ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately issue Dr Samson Uche Ogah with certificate of return, the INEC, on Thursday complied by issuing certificate of return to Ogah, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the new governor of Abia state despite appeal filed by Ikpeazu and another court order that barred new governor from being sworn in.

The Justice Okon Abang-led court had held that Ikpeazu submitted false tax information to his party, the PDP during the governorship primary in December 2014, and as such was not qualified to contest for the party’s primaries.

Justice Abang also ordered INEC to immediately issue a certificate of return to Ogah, while ordering Ikpeazu to immediately vacate the office of the governor.

Embattled Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has reacted to the issuance of Certificate of Return to Mr. Uche Ogah by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as governor of Abia State.

A statement he personally signed on Thursday said it was said that INEC carried out the issuance, “despite dependency of a notice of appeal and motion on stay of the orders made by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja”.

He added that, “Our laws are clear on this matter. No one may be issued with a certificate of return let alone be sworn in as governor, when there is a subsisting appeal and application for stay.

“I want to appeal to Abians to remain calm and law abiding in the face of this provocation, unless and until the appellant courts have conclusively resolve the appeal, the status remains, I am still the Governor of Abia State.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has explained why the first runner up in the 2014 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial primary election in Abia State, Uche Ogah was issued with Certificate of Return on Thursday.

An Abuja Federal High Court had on Monday annulled the election of Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu for alleged tax evasion and also ordered INEC to issue Ogah with Certificate of Return.

Explaining why Ogah was issued with the Certificate of Return, INEC’s National Commissioner, in charge of the South East, Amb. Lawrence Nwuruku said the commission only heeded to a Federal High Court order.

Nwuruku stated that he could go to jail if he acted otherwise, stressing that if the valid court order was later reversed, INEC would not hesitate to act accordingly.

He said, “The situation is that we are simply obeying the court order. The court said with immediate effect, without wasting time, we should issue him Certificate of Return and that is what we have done – to obey the court order. If the court tomorrow issues another order, we would obey the same. By the grace of God, I am the INEC Commissioner in charge of South East.

“If court says we should issue the same certificate to another person, I will do same. In this case, court ordered us to issue a Certificate of Return to the person who won the election and that is Uche Ogah.

“I was the person who gave the Certificate of Return to Gov. Ikpeazu as he was declared winner. Now, the court has said otherwise. One thing we know is that we are not above the law and we cannot disobey the laws of the land. After the court, another person we obey in our land is God and my conscience is my God. Another thing that guides us is the court and we must obey its order with immediate effect.”

Abia Guber: CONFUSION As INEC Issues Cert. of Return To Uche Ogar, Court Order Stop Of Swearing In

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC today issued a certificate of return to Mr. Uche Ogar who was declared the winner by the court three days ago.

In reaction to why INEC took the decision despite an appeal filed by the incumbent, Dr .Okezie Ikpeazu,  the National Commissioner in charge of the South East, Amb. Lawrence Nwuruku said the commission only kowtowed to the lawful order of a court. Nwuruku added that as a citizen, he could go to jail if he flouts a valid court order. 

He said if the court tomorrow orders a reversal of the action, INEC would not hesitate to do its bidding. 

“The situation is that we are simply obeying the court order. The court said with immediate effect without wasting of time, we should issue him Certificate of Return and that is what we have done – to obey the court order. If the court tomorrow issues another order, we would obey the same. By the grace of God, I am the INEC Commissioner in charge of South East. 

I’ll do the same thing if the court orders us to do so.

Meanwhile, another high court sitting at Abia has given order to the Commissioner of Justice of the State not to swear in Mr. Ogah as the new governor.

Bellow is the court order:

Abia State Gov. Ikpeazu SACKED, Orders Samson Ogah To Be Sworn In

A federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sacked Dr .Okezie Ikpeazu ordering him to vacate his office as governor with immediate effect.

The order was on the ground of an allegation that Ikpeazu submitted fabricated information to his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the party’s governorship primary in December 2014.

In his ruling, Justice Okon Abang on Monday June 27, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to immediately issue a certificate of return to the complainant, Dr Samson Uche Ogah asking that the commission should cease the certificate of return issued to Governor Ikpeazu since he was never qualified to run for the party primaries as a governorship candidate.

The judge also mandated the Chief Judge of the state to swear in, Uche Ogah, his opponent who was one of the party’s aspirants in the said election and polled the second highest number of votes in the primary.

It was learnt that Ikpeazu was sacked from his office over  fake tax returns during the PDP primaries.

Meanwhile, the sacked governor, speaking through his media office, says he will appeal the ruling as he had instructed his lawyers to immediately file an appeal against the said judgment. He urged the citizens of the state to remain calm, noting that he had faith in the judiciary.

On the allegation that he evaded paying taxes, he noted that he was duly issued with his tax receipts in 2014, having been an appointee of Abia State Government from 2011 to 2014, when he served as the General Manager, Abia State Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme, ASPIMSS, and first Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, Aba and environs, before his resignation in October 2014 to contest the governorship election.

He added that, being a civil servant, his taxes had always been deducted at source by the Abia State Board of Internal Revenue.

He maintained that he remains the Governor of the state according to law until the final determination of the matter by the appellate courts.