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.”

Presidency Shocked, Rattled As Abuja Court Throws Out Buhari’s Application in Certificate Case

SignalNG - The Honorable Justice Ademola Adeniyi sitting at the Federal High Court 7, Abuja on Thursday 26th, May 2016 dismissed the Preliminary Objections filed by President Muhammadu Buhari in the case instituted against him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/110/2015 by an Abuja based Legal Practitioner, Barr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe challenging his competence to stand election into the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when he lacks the basic educational qualifications set out in the Constitution.

The development has reportedly thrown the Nigerian presidency into disquiet as President Buhari and his handlers greeted the ruling with shock, as very few Nigerians including members of Buhari’s government realized the case was still in court.

According to an informed source on the development, the ruling has caught the Buhari presidency unawares and has posed a big distraction for government activities at the Villa. “Nobody even knew the case was still on. The story was not even reported in the mainstream media. No paper carried the Thursday ruling. But I can tell you the Presidency is rattled and seriously hoping that the case does not resurface again in the public domain because of the huge embarrassment it could cause the President. But more importantly, there are concerns about the safety of the judge and the plaintiff”, the source disclosed.

Recall that in February 2015, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, Esq. filed an Originating Summons at the Federal High Court, Abuja praying the Court to among others declare that Buhari is unqualified to aspire to the position of President not having sat for the Secondary School Certificate and also deposing to a false affidavit about his educational qualifications contrary to the Electoral Act.

Buhari and the APC instead of entering a defence on the merits and exhibiting any educational certificates obtained by Buhari, tried to frustrate the hearing of the case by filing several objections to the competence of the action.

President Buhari reportedly retained over twenty SANs led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, Chief Akin Olujinmi, Femi Falana, etc., who for over one year now have failed to file any defence for Buhari or APC but instead used every trick in the book to delay the case.

But on Thursday, the Hon. Justice Ademola Adeniyi in his ruling on the case, dismissed all applications by the defendant as totally lacking in merit. He held that the suit filed by Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe was competent and the service on Buhari and APC was also competent.

He thereafter adjourned the case to the 16th day of June 2016 for hearing of the substantive Originating Summons to determine whether Buhari’s educational qualifications meets the minimum standards required by the Constitution.

According to reports made available to SIGNAL, only the counsel to INEC was in Court, the plaintiff was absent but wrote to the Court explaining that he received notice of the date for the ruling the previous night and was out of town and could not make it. APC (2nd Respondent) and Buhari (3rd Respondent) were absent, were not represented and did not write to Court.

It will be recalled that there were claims by online handlers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that the Nigerian Army  located President Buhari’s “missing certificate” after the elections. The missing certificate saga raised contention as to the eligibility of Buhari to contest the presidential election. However, it is on record that there was no official statement by the Nigerian Army up till this day corroborating claims that the certificate has been found.