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Ikpeazu appeals for calm as Abia awaits S/Court verdict

By Seye Olumide
21 January 2016   |   4:38 am
SOME stakeholders in Abia State have called for calm as they await the decision of the Supreme Court over December 31 verdict of the Appeal Court, which upturned the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Alex Otti winner.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

SOME stakeholders in Abia State have called for calm as they await the decision of the Supreme Court over December 31 verdict of the Appeal Court, which upturned the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Alex Otti winner.

The stakeholders have however said it was important to consider and ensure that over 300,000 voters in the state were not disenfranchised as they also hoped that appropriate justice would be done on the decision of the Court of Appeal.

As the supporters of the two candidates await the apex’s court decision, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr. Godwin Adindu has called for calm as he expressed hope that justice would be done.

According to him, “We still believe that in a country where everybody has equal rights it would be an act of injustice to disenfranchise about 300,000 registered voters in three local government areas in Abia.”

He lamented that the Court of Appeal in its ruling on December 31, 2105, cancelled the entire results of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North local government areas, which had over 300,000 registered voters, out of which 228,932 had collected Permanent Voter Cards (PVC). With the cancellation, the five-member Court of Appeal panel ruled that Mr. Otti won with 164,444 valid votes as against 114,444 valid votes for Governor Ikpeazu.

The governor’s spokesman said this is the first time a governor was being disenfranchised together with his siblings, cousins, relatives, his village and community. “Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is being denied his own vote, the vote of his wife and children, the vote of his siblings, cousins and relatives. He is being denied the vote of his state and Federal constituencies even when his opponent did not field any candidate in these areas,” he said.

Looking at the implications of the decision of the appellate court, Adindu said, “It would mark the first time one man and his cousin would be governor and deputy governor at the same time. This is the first time a governorship candidate who never raised a state constituency candidate will turn around to ambush the results from the area for cancellation. APGA did not field House of Assembly candidates for the two state constituencies in Obingwa (Obingwa East and West), yet it ambushed the governorship election results of Obingwa for total cancellation.”

He also said the judgement would amount to being the first time somebody who never raised a candidate for a Federal constituency will waylay the results from that constituency for annulment stressing “APGA did not field a candidate for Obingwa/Osisioma/Ugwunagbo Federal constituency, yet it ambushed the governorship election results from Obingwa and Osisioma for total cancellation. Engr. Solomon Adaelu of the PDP, representing Obingwa/Osisioma/Ugwunagbo Federal constituency, did not have any APGA rival in the electoral contest.”

He urged that fair-mined Nigerians should rise up to ensure that justice was done, saying: “All that we are after is equity, justice and fairness.”

He said the people of Abia South senatorial zone would also have been condemned to second fiddle if the judgment of the Court of Appeal election panel was allowed to stand.

He said since the creation of the state in 1991, Abia North and Abia Central senatorial zones have produced Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu (1999 to 2007) and Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji (2007 to 2015) as governors. Dr Ikpeazu is from Abia south, while both Mr Otti and his running mate, are not only from Abia North senatorial zone, but also from the same Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal constituency.

He said since the creation of the state in 1991, Abia North and Abia Central senatorial zones have produced Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu (1999 to 2007) and Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji (2007 to 2015) as governors. Dr Ikpeazu is from Abia south, while both Mr Otti and his running mate, are not only from Abia North senatorial zone, but also from the same Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal constituency.

He said that it was a misplacement of justice for the APGA governorship candidate that could not raise candidates for most of the federal and state constituencies in the three disputed local government areas to be allowed to become governor by default.

Adindu said the most plausible option in the circumstance would be to order for fresh election in the dispute areas, rather than an outright cancellation of the votes adding that what the people of the state desired was good governance, which they had experienced in the first 200 days of Governor Ikpeazu.
“Abia State is not for sale and nobody should trifle with the destiny of the people,” he cautioned.

15 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    The temporary Governor of Abia State and the PDP are becoming restlessly jittery. Thou shall not steal. So sayeth the lord thy God. The electoral fraud in Abia State was shameful. No amount of sensational press briefings will stop the hand of God, through those wise Jurists.

    • Author’s gravatar

      You are right my brother. They are still brandishing 300,000 voters in 3 LGAs. This is a fallacy. If President Jonathan of PDP go about 394,000 and ACN got about 12,000 in all LGAs in Abia state. We can rightly extrapolate that there were about 410,000 voters who participated actively in the last election in Abia state. Bear in mind that these figures has element of rigging also. The appeal court had in their ruling allocated APGA about 165,000 and PDD 114,000. Added up it amounts to 279,000. Deduct this from 410,000, the balance will be 131,000. Put error margin of 10%. plus or minus 10% = 144,000 or 118,000. I am bold to say that the eligible voters in these 3 local government hovers between 100,000-140,000. The figure of 200,000-300,000 being brandished by PDP is a huge joke.

      • Author’s gravatar

        There is a big difference between the presidential and the governorship elections. The presidential contest experienced voter apathy because the SE/SS were convinced president Jonathan would lose the elections based on media reports both locally and internationally. The governorship elections across the SE/SS became more important to the PDP that has lost already at the center. It is therefore illogical to correlate the outcome of the presidential with that of the governorships. This is classic apples and oranges. Your calculation about the actual number of disenfranchised voters is also incorrect. The INEC published the registration strengths across Nigeria and indeed Abia state. They went further to publish the number of those who picked up their PVCs. With those numbers in mind it would be unintelligent to make the assumptions you made about the number of eligible voters in the three local government areas in question. Your figures are overly conservative and that is understandable. Finally, you were bold to say that only 100,000- 140,000 where eligible in the three LGAs and that is a bigger problem for you and Otti. If as you claim PDP had 114,000 and APGA had 165,000 with 100,000 to 140,000 votes in the three LGAs disenfranchised would it not make the election inconclusive considering the disenfranchised vote is higher than the margin between the two parties. There is no logic out there that can out rightly pronounce Otti the governor of Abia state under these circumstances. The Supreme Court will let Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa north exercise their franchise because whether it was 300,000 or 100,000 votes no one should be disenfranchised period!

        • Author’s gravatar

          Nwangwa, Emelogu, Just go home and tell your people to sin no more. And start preparing for 2019. The jargons you are posting here is a cry of a drowning man. No sinner shall go unpunished. The rightful owner (Alex Otti) is at the verge of reclaiming his mandate willfully and respectfully given to him. Your co-thieves in my side are praying for re-run, and which they will never get IJN

          • Author’s gravatar

            I have been following and reading comments and contribution from Abia State PDP, Dr Ikpeazu, and his spin doctors on the appeal court judgment that sack Dr Ikpeazu as the Governor of Abia State and decleared Mr Alex Otti as the winer, ordering that Otti should be sown in immediately having Meet
            constitutionally required 25% of valid votes cast in two-third local
            governments of the state. I also followed the contribution of Mr Mike Ozekhome  SAN. None of this people have a convincing argument to convince readers and listeners that Dr Ikpeazu won the election.

            All what I have been hearing is  how PDP zoned governorship ticket to Abia South. Rented street protest. Otti lived and work in Lagos where the appeal judges come from. Ukwa/Ngwa people are denial been governor and how appeal court judgment will disenfranchise 200,000, 300,000, 250,000 and 400,000 odd voters from three LGAs of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isala Ngwa South. These figures quoted depends on who is talking and the audience he or she is trying to please, is not base on facts and figures. Dr Ikpeazu and Abia PDP are not realising that nomenclature for sentiments is called white lies. 
            Those sentiment and unfounded allegation was used during the said election when the returning officer concealed results of those disputed three LGAs. The blackmail then was that Mr Otti’s mother is cousin to mother of then Abia INEC Residenc Electoral Commissioner (REC) and all that. It is absurd for Dr Ikpeazu to call for investigation of the appeal court judges by National Judiciary Council. Ikpeazu want further to accuse APC lead government of having a hand in his travail.

             These are jurists for over many year in the bench have not brought their profession into disrepute. Just because judgment is entered against Dr Ikpeazu and PDP they are using blackmail and intimidation against these fine and sort after jurist that restored stolen mandate of Abia electorate. The question is for how long will Abia PDP and Dr Ikpeazu continue to deceive the people without facts to surport their argument.

            For avoidance of doubt, let me summarise the reason for the judgment.
            The Appeal Court’s argument is that INEC, which was defending its
            declaration of Ikpeazu as Abia governor in the suit, was the same body
            which presented to the Election Petition Tribunal with evidence of
            accreditation in the election.
            The INEC official who was subpoenaed by the tribunal said the
            accreditation report she brought was conclusive, and that every
            accreditation that took place in that election was captured in that
            document. When this witness said these, Ikpeazu’s lawyers did no
            cross-examine her to fault her claim. And in law, once you don’t fault a witnesses’ claim through cross-examination, you have agreed with her testimony. It was based on that evidence which Ikpeazu’s lawyers reluctantly agreed to with their silence that the Appeal Court judges established a case of over-voting in three LGAs of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isala Ngwa South. Remember these LGAs where same areas their results was ab initio cancelled by the election returning officer Prof Owuzurumba.

            Now, here are the figures. Accreditation in those areas, according to
            INEC accreditation report was 93,369. Number of votes from those areas was 160,252. The unanswered question then became how 93,369 people manufactured 160,252 votes. It was evident that people sat in their living rooms and manufactured election results and then allocated votes to candidates as they wished. Because voting can only be exercised by those who went through accreditation, the learned justices determined that the results from those three LG areas were concocted, fictitious and fabricated. The votes where unlawful. And our laws have it settled, that when over-voting is established, the election is nullified and voided. A null and void action is without validity, it lacks force of law. The appeal court judges unanimously agree that as at the time the election held, it had already produced a clear winner in Alex Otti. The learned justices then held that there would only be a need to call for a rerun if there was no clear winner. Alex Otti met the constitutionally required 25% of valid votes cast in two-third local governments of the state, as well as garnered majority of votes cast.

            Another over bolted figures and claim that needs  puncture is this claim of voting strength of Abia State during the 2015 presidential election. First, all core Igbo states were hugely supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan. Secondly, his wife, Patience grew up in Ohuhu in Umuahia North LGA where her own mother hailed from. It therefore stands to reason that Abians came out en masse to give Jonathan their votes; yet he got only 368,303 votes while Muhammadu Buhari got 13, 394. The total was about 381,697 votes. This is the true voting strength of Abia state, not the over-bloated pre-Card Reader figures bandied around by Dr Ikpeazu and Abia PDP.
            Now, Abia has 17 Local Governments. If Only 3 local governments have more
            than 350,000 votes as the PDP claims, where was the votes from the rest
            14 local governments including Aba North and South, Ohafia, Umuahis North, Umuahia South and Bende all of which have the highest voting strength? How come President Jonathan, in spite of the love Abians have for him, could only poll 368, 303 votes? You see, no matter how fast falsehood sprints, truth will overtake it at a point which is the case in Abia state.

        • Author’s gravatar

          My assumptions were practical, Southeast and particularly Abians stuck with President Jonathan- He was the ‘devil the knew’. They didnt stick with Ikpeazu because he was unknown to Abians. They did stick with PDP because the party had subjected them within the last 16 year to gross misrule and neglect. My friend, at the supreme court it will be shown that among the Eligible voters those who validly voted will hover within the figure I presented. This was based on trend. I think you are being naive in your postulation that Election will be inconclusive if my 100,000 is allowed to stand in the 3 LGAs. This is because you are assuming that PDP will coast home 100% of vote cast. This is another wistful thinking

          • Author’s gravatar

            Your assumptions are dead wrong. The time between Jonathan’s loss and the gubernatorial elections is a lifetime in politics and enough time for political reassessments and a retooled campaigns based on realities on the ground. Jonathan quickly conceded the election to Buhari whose body language was spiteful and vindictive to those he felt did not vote for him. The PDP used this to rally their base and especially the Ukwa/Ngwa community that were on the verge of a political milestone. The PDP does not need 100,000 votes to win. They only need about half of that. More importantly by now you should know that Otti will not get a single vote in Obingwa. Even if he gets 50% in Osisioma and Isialangwa north he is guaranteed to lose. Otti is delaying his agony by running from one court to the other. He is a born loser and the Supreme Court will formally hang the title of loser on him in less than 60 days.

          • Author’s gravatar

            Everybody’s genuine advice is wrong in your thinking. Like I said before that you Mr Emelogu is a compound fool, I woke up convinced that I did not make mistake by addressing you so. We must be seen to live above peddling lies at our age. All those half baked Governors Abians had including our Dr Ikpeazu is why the state is motionless. Come to talk of it, the highest office Dr Ikpeazu held was Local Government Transition Chairman at Obingwa. Influence by Rt Hon Acho Wakama the former Deputy Governor of Abia state who brought Ikpeazu into politics. Dr Ikpeazu has naver been out of the shores of Nigeria priora to been picked as a stooge rather (April fool) governor he is to TA Orji and his son Ikuku. Since after stealing Abia people’s mandate Dr Ikpeazu have traveled to America more than five time. He has withdraw his children from Micheal Opara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Ikwuano LGA to Universities in the Uk. Why because Dr Ikpeazu see those as his priorities. Poverty is an awful decease. Owou ite man Ikpeazu.

          • Author’s gravatar

            This is BIO-STATS OF DR. ALEX OTTI, OFR- IT DOESN’T LOOK FOR ME AS A BORN LOSER.
            Dr. Alex Otti is the former Group Managing Director and Chief
            Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc, a leading bank in Nigeria with
            Business offices in London, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin.
            Diamond Bank is one of the eight systemically important banks in the
            country as announced by Central Bank of Nigeria.
            Dr. Alex Otti, a renowned banker, has also held the following
            appointments:
            Chairman of the Committee of Bank Chief Executives in Nigeria
            Chairman of the Bankers Committee Sub-Committee on
            Sustainability, Economic Development and Gender
            Chairman, Diamond Bank United Kingdom
            Board Member, Diamond Bank du Benin
            Board Member, Nigerian Interbank Settlement System
            Board Member, Airtel Nigeria Limited
            Director, Airtel Nigeria Limited (2005 – 2011);
            Director, FBN Mortgages Limited
            Director, First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited;
            Member, Governing Council of the University of Port Harcourt (2007
            – 2012);
            Chairman, Economics & Statistics committee, Lagos Chamber of
            Commerce and Industry;
            Member, Governing Council of Babcock University;
            Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria;
            Member, Institute of Directors;
            He graduated from the University of Port Harcourt in 1988 with First
            Class Honours degree in Economics, won the Dean’s prize and was also
            the best graduating student from the University that year. In 1994, He
            graduated with a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the
            University of Lagos and has since then attended many courses at home
            and abroad in prestigious globally recognized universities. His
            commitment to education, business and dynamic public policy has been
            acknowledged with the following academic honours
            Doctor of Business Administration – Babcock University, 2009
            Doctor of Science – University of Port Harcourt, 2012
            Doctor of Public Administration – University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
            2013.

            PLEASE PRESENT THE BIOGRAPHY OF IKPEAZU.

          • Author’s gravatar

            The highest office Dr Ikpeazu held was Local Government Transition Chairman of Obingwa. Influence by Rt Hon Acho Wakama the former Deputy Governor of Abia state who brought Ikpeazu into politics. Dr Ikpeazu has naver been out of the shores of Nigeria priora to been picked as a stooge rather (April fool) governor he is to TA Orji and his son Ikuku. Since after stealing Abia people’s mandate Dr Ikpeazu have traveled to America more than five time. He withdraw his children from Micheal Opara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Ikwuano LGA to Universities in the Uk. Why because Dr Ikpeazu see those as his priorities. Poverty is an awful decease. Owou ite man Ikpeazu.

  • Author’s gravatar

    This confederacy by the haters of our people shall not stand (Isaiah 7:7). As they want to deny our people their rightful position through gang up, let what happened to Ahitophael happen to them all in Jesus name, Amen

  • Author’s gravatar

    Stop this futile attempt to influence the court. Abia state belongs to the people of Abia state and not to PDP. Nigerian politicians are the most horrible idiots on this planet.

  • Author’s gravatar

    You have not mention that Dr Ikpeazu and PDP burn down INEC office at Obingwa when Abia Election tribunal subpoena for inspection of governorship election materials. There by distroying evident of PDP riging at Ikpeazu’s LGA. Of course, that was the reason why the then returning officer cancelled the result. I don’t think it was coincidence that the appeal court judges tow same line by voiding that result which the law of the land recommend. Reading from Dr Ikpeazu’s spin doctor Mr Adindu he is not convincing, is same old myth we have been hearing. Please read my detailed submission below. Thanks.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Prior to the confusion of votes from the three local governments of obingwa, osisioma and isialangwa North , total vote cast from the 14 out of the 17 local governments of Abia state was 279’000 ( Otti got 146’000 and Ikpeazu: 114’000 ). Don’t forget that this total includes votes from the highly urbanized Aba south LGA, officially the most populated LGA in Abia state with enumerated population of 1’460’000. This gives an average vote cast of roughly 20’000 votes per local govt. With these glaring facts above, it will be extremely superfluous for these never-tired liars to expect a serious panel of judges to accept cooked-up figures presented as number of disenfranchised voters in those three essentially rural local governments. By the electoral Acts, punishment for substantial noncompliance is cancellation of results without prejudice to disenfranchisement and appeal to sentiments. At this stage, the issue before the Supreme Court is not about disenfranchisement or whether the panel of judges for the Appeal was properly composed. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether Otti proved beyond reasonable doubts that there were substantial noncompliance as in the case of the affected three local governments. If that be the case, the appeal fails; otherwise the prayer of the appellate (which is for the Supreme Court to order for a rerun) would be granted. Period

    • Author’s gravatar

      Broda you are spot on and your contributions are always educative not Mr Stan Emelogu who always exhibit stupidity. We are all concern about our state and will like it to move forward like other sister states around us. We must be seen to live above board by saying the truth no mater who is involved. Thanks.