The governorship tussle in Abia State assumes newer dimensions by the day. Uche Ogah who was handed the certificate of return last week after the court sacked Okezie Ikpeazu as governor, says the court injunction obtained by his opposite number was a black market one.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Public Communications, Monday Onyekachi Ubani, Ogah said the stay of execution obtained by Ikpeazu has no force of law.
“In a pre-election matter, the enforceability of a court judgment is immediate as the losing side in the legal argument, in this case, Ikpeazu, was never adjudged to have been qualified to contest the election in the first place while in a post-election matter the mandate enjoyed by an incumbent subsists until the tribunal or appellate courts rule otherwise.
“The court having found that the information Ikpeazu supplied about his tax payments was all false, ruled that he was not qualified to have participated in the primary election of PDP in December 2014, that all the votes he gathered at the said primaries were invalid and of no effect, in fact wasted.
“Since a general election has been held and the PDP won, Ikpeazu was asked to vacate his seat while the certificate of return should be issued to Ogah who came second during the primary election. He was ordered to be sworn in by the Chief Judge of Abia state immediately. Note, the word used by the presiding judge was ‘immediately’.
“Enrollment order was procured by Dr Uche Ogah and INEC was served and they obeyed the extant judgment of the Federal High court by issuing Dr Ogah with the certificate of return.
”I am not ignorant of the black market injunction allegedly obtained by Ikpeazu at Osisioma Ngwa High court restraining the Chief Judge of Abia state from swearing in Dr Ogah.
“That interim order was premised on section 143 of the Electoral Act which is only applicable to judgments obtained in Election Tribunals, but not in pre-election matters.
“It is a laughable ruling not worth the paper it was written. For God’s sake, a high court in Abia is a court of coordinate jurisdiction with a Federal High court and so, any order given by such court to contradict an earlier order of the same court is ipso facto null and void. It is only a higher court that has the legal capacity to reverse the earlier order or judgment.
“Failure or delay to swear in Ogah as the duly elected Governor of Abia state is an unqualified affront to the rule of law and constitutional governance in a true democracy, and an act that is capable of undermining the peace and stability of the state.
“Ikpeazu has been duly removed as Abia state Governor and no amount of legal shenanigans and illegal public holidays will derail the law of the land taking full effect. Ogah will be sworn-in in due course so as to avoid the dangerous power vacuum that currently exists in Abia State and for him to begin the urgent task of empowering Abians with his laudable developmental programmes already lined up.”
President Muhammadu Buhari is awaiting legal advice from his Attorney General Abubakar Malami on the constitutional crisis in Abia. Malami is reportedly cutting short his trip to Saudi Arabia where he’s attending the lesser Hajj, on account of the crisis. In the interim, security forces have been charged with preventing the breakdown of law and order in the south east state.
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