Abia: Ogah intensifies swearing-in plans

Some people say it is a family affair, others de­scribe it as the battle with­in, yet to many, it is a battle of wits between two gladi­ators. Whatever it is, the truth remains that a battle line has been drawn by po­litical heavyweights from two different camps within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State over who should rightly su­perintend the affairs of the state. The two camps which have emerged in the Abia PDP today are those of Okezie Ikpeazu and Uche Ogah, Daily Sun reports…

Okezie Ikpeazu was firmly in charge as they would put it within the PDP circle, saying “there is no shaking.” But all that changed on Monday, June 27 when a Federal High Court, Abuja presided over by Justice Okon Abang sacked him as governor based on tax related matter and ordered that Dr Uche­chukwu Sampson Ogah be sworn in as the governor of the state immediately.

The Ikpeazu camp rushed to the Court of Appeal to quash the order and hope­fully stop Ogah from being sworn in as directed by the court. But that did not stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which on Thursday issued Ogah the cer­tificate of return. With that development and Ikpeazu saying he re­mained the governor of the state, it became as Fela of blessed memory would say, ‘confusion break bone’ in the state.

It was on this strength that Saturday Sun spoke to some of the actors in both camps. The chief press secretary to Gov Ikpeazu, Enyinnaya Appollos said it was wrong as well as illegal for INEC to have is­sued Ogah a certificate of return when in effect the governor had on Wednesday filed an ap­peal against Monday’s judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja which removed him from office.

He said the Gov­ernor, in a notice of appeal filed by Chief Adegboyega Awom­olo, SAN, raised five grounds of appeal upon which he asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment and orders of the high court, stressing that the Fed­eral High Court lacked the power to order him to vacate the seat of Abia State Governor.

According to him, “the only power, au­thority and order exer­cisable by the Federal High Court was to dis­qualify the candidate from contesting the election based on sec­tion 31(6) of the Elec­toral Act 2010 and reiterated that it was wrong for INEC to have acted the way it did.”

Appollos further stated that INEC lied when it said it did not receive any Notice of Appeal from Gover­nor Okezie Ikpeazu or an injunction stop­ping the Commission from issuing a Certifi­cate of Return to Dr. Uche Ogah. He stated that the Commission was duly served and it indeed received the documents and they were acknowledged by Saleh N. Ibrahim, a Senior Clerical Officer at the Legal Services Department of the Commission’s Head­quarters, Abuja.

In his reaction, Ogah’s media aide, Kalu Peter said INEC acted wisely and with­in the ambit of the law by issuing Ogah a certificate of return, saying that the Com­mission couldn’t have done otherwise under the present circum­stance.

Peter said the Abia High Court order re­straining INEC from issuing Ogah the certifi­cate of return and from being sworn in as gov­ernor was given hours after his principal had already received the document.

On the impediments on the way of Ogah being sworn in as gov­ernor, the media aide said, “The despera­tion in stopping Ogah from being sworn in as governor including the public holidays hur­riedly put in place as they claimed absence of the Chief Judge will not work.

“Chief Judge from a neighbouring state went to Rivers State to swear in Governor Nyesom Wike after the elections and that of Abia might not be different. Ogah is going to be sworn in any moment and public holidays will be incon­sequential”, Peter said.

In its reaction, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Abia State chapter sees the issue as a family one which the PDP should handle as a family if there is really one.

According to the state chairman of the party, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, his party’s concern was that this should not be allowed to degenerate into un­leashing of miscreants on the good and inno­cent people of the state in form of protests.

“Since Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and his legal team said they have ap­pealed against the judg­ment which is the right thing to do, it will be greatly unfair should his supporters resort to self help through vio­lence moreover when the ban on protest was still in force.

“We also call on all the gladiators to im­mediately cease all anti democratic actions that are capable of plunging Abia State into state of anarchy”.

APGA threatened it would be compelled to approach the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Abia to prevent com­plete breakdown of law and order if its advice was not heeded.

A resident of Aba, Boniface Ugo urged politicians in the state to do the right thing to avoid causing trouble. In his words, “What we are asking for is that a higher Court to tell us who is the authentic governor of the state because when two peo­ple are laying claim to the same post, it is the court that will resolve it.”