Ikpeazu wins at S’Court, remains Abia gov

Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, said on Friday that he has forgiven his detractors and those hell bent on removing him from office following the Supreme Court verdict which once again affirmed his victory in the 2015 governorship election.

The Abia governorship seat had been mired in multiple litigations instituted by Ikpeazu’s opponents during 2015 polls as well as his opponents during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary where he emerged the party’s candidate.

The case instituted by Mr. Uche Ogah appeared the most scary for Ikpeazu, as he was almost pushed out of office after Justice Okong Abang then of Abuja High Court nullified his mandate on account of ‘questionable’ tax papers.

The Appeal Court had however resolved the matter in Ikpeazu’s favour, but Ogah promptly challenged the appellate court’s decision at the Supreme Court.

But with Friday’s victory at the Supreme Court, Ikpeazu declared that his mandate has now been doubly affirmed, referring to the equally favourable judgment he got last year at the apex court in the legal challenge mounted by Dr. Alex Otti, the standard-bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Ikpeazu, who spoke with journalists at the Government House Umuahia after emerging from the chapel where he had gone to pray after receiving the favourable news from Abuja, said he was dedicating the victory to the people of Abia State, who had supported and prayed for him.

Meanwhile, his counterpart in Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has described the Supreme Court judgment as victory for Ikpeazu and shame to Justice Okon Abang.

In a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, Fayose told Ikpeazu that the victory was a call to more dedicated service to the people of Abia State.

“Your Excellency must more than ever before continue to make a difference in the lives of your people. You must continue to put a wide gap between your good self and the political charlatans who have now got to their tether’s end.

“The Supreme Court, where they have now failed, is the last bus stop for them. They also failed at the Court of Appeal.

“It is instructive that the only court where your opponents won was at the high court of Justice Okon Abang, who has become notorious for “Jankara” and “Oluwole” judgments.

“It is a shame that a man like Abang, who has been roundly lampooned again and again by his colleagues and superiors as a disgrace to the Bench, still answers the name of a judge and continues to sit on the Bench.

“He should be kicked out without delay. His peers and superiors have told us times without number that Abang dispenses injustice. His pronouncements, rulings and judgments have variously been described by fellow judges as a travesty of justice. What is such a man still doing on the Bench?

“I make bold to say that Abang is not fit to be in the Judiciary system again. The Court of Appeal in the Ikpeazu case, apart from laughing Abang to scorn for constituting himself into the state Tax board, also described his judgment as “a rape of democracy.”

Fayose said rape is a very serious offence and a serial offender like Abang should not be allowed to continue to escape justice.

“A judge adjudged by fellow judges as having committed ‘great violence against one of the pillars of our criminal justice’ has outlived his usefulness on the Bench,” Fayose added.

 

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