Politics
I won’t handover, I remain gov, Ikpeazu says
Sacked governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu on Thursday, called on Abians to remain peaceful and law abiding, saying that “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”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had on Thursday issued Certificate of Return to Mr. Uche Ogah, effectively making him the governor of the state.
But Ikpeazu, in a statement issued after the development said: “I have received with concern, report of the purported issuance of Certificate of Return to Mr. Uche Ogah by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as governor of Abia State, despite dependency of a notice of appeal and motion for stay of the orders made by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Read also: Abia: Ogar gets certificate from INEC, to take over from Gov Ikpeazu
“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.”
Meanwhile, the state government on it’s facebook page, Abia Online, has published a court injunction said to have been secured by Governor Ikpeazu preventing the state’s Chief Justice or any other Judge from swearing-in Ogah as governor of the state while he remains in office pending the determination of his appeal.
A Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Okon Abang had on June 27 ordered INEC to immediately issue a certificate of return to Dr Samson Uche Ogah asking that the commission cancell the certificate of return issued to Governor Ikpeazu since he was never qualified to run for the party primaries as a governorship candidate.
The order was on the ground of an allegation that Ikpeazu submitted fabricated information to his party, the PDP for the party’s governorship primary in December 2014.
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