₦airaland Forum

Abia State Governor-elect,
Dr Uche Ogah, has said that
public holidays would not
stop his inauguration as
governor of the state,
describing the stay of
execution order secured by
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as
a black market injunction.
Ogah, who spoke in Abuja
through his Special Adviser
on Public Communication,
Monday Onyekachi,
maintained that the Abuja
Federal High Court acted
within its powers by issuing
him a certificate of return to
avoid an unpalatable
leadership vacuum in the
state.
This is just as he called on
all Abia people and well
meaning indigenes of the
state to join him in rebuilding
the state. He argued that
there is a difference between
a pre-election matter and
post-election trial of
electoral matters by tri­
bunals. “In a pre-election
matter, the enforceability of
a court judgment is immedi­
ate. In this case, Dr 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,” he
said.
According to him, “The
interim order was premised
on section 143 of the Elec­
toral 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.”
He further explained that the
High Court in Abia is a court
of coordinate jurisdiction with
a Federal High Court and as
such, any order given by
such court to contradict an
earlier order of the same
court is ipso facto null and
void, adding it is only a
higher court that has the le­
gal capacity to reverse the
earlier order or judgment.”

iflywithbuhari:
If Ikpeazu doesn't comply and surrender the state, after he is successfully kicked out and Ogah is sworn in, the true governor of Abia state will begin the process of judgement against Ikpeazu for forgery.