Connect with us

Politics

More confusion as 3rd contender lays claim to Abia governorship

Published

on

Gov Ikpeazu wins at Federal High
There is now apparent confusion in Abia State as a third contender, Friday Nwosu, has joined in laying claims to Abia governorship seat.
He has filed a suit against the judgment of the Federal High Court which declared Uche Ogah as governor-elect.
Nwosu posits that the federal high court, having disqualified Ikpeazu as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2015 polls, should have declared him as  governor-elect and not Ogah.
His argument is that Ogah should not be allowed by the court to benefit from the primary election he condemned by denying to sign the result.
He is also petitioning the leadership of the party and asking it to conduct another primary election.
Nwosu, in his Suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/71/2016, filed at the Federal High Court, Owerri against Ogah, the PDP,  Okezie Ikpeazu, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),  is seeking five reliefs:
“An order setting aside the declaration of the 1st  respondent, Uche Ogah, as the elected governor of Abia State as declared by the trial court, an order that the 1st respondent is stopped from claiming any right or benefit from the 2nd respondent’s (PDP) gubernatorial primary election of 8/12/2014 in Abia State having waived his right to do so; an order striking out the 1st  respondent’s (Uche Ogah)’s suit on the ground that it constitutes an abuse of court process; an order that the suit of 1st  respondent i.e. (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/71/2016)  is incompetent and the trial court lacks the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.”
According to him, the judgment in favour of Ogah “is in error and cannot stand judicial scrutiny. Dr. Uche Ogah should not be allowed to benefit from an exercise he totally condemned by refusing to sign the result and petitioning the party to conduct another primary election. He should wait for the rerun of the PDP primary which he prayed for in his petition to the party.
“In the eyes of the law, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and Sir Friday Nwosu  were the only candidates who ran for the party primary. Since Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has been disqualified, I remain the lawful candidate of the PDP and ought to be declared governor”, he stated.
Justice A.I. Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Owerri has fixed Monday and Tuesday to hear Nwosu’s suit challenging Ikpeazu and Ogah.
It was learnt that it was Nwosu who went to court to file a tax forgery suit against Ikpeazu and joined Ogah as one of the respondents in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/184/2015, FHC/UM/CS/64/2015 and FHC/CS/OW/191/2015.
This is even as Ogah has described as an affront on the rule of law, the refusal of the Abia State Chief Judge, Theresa Uzoukwu, to swear him in as “the only elected governor” of the state.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now