A federal high Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has dismissed a suit filed against Abia’s governor, Dr. Ozekie Ikpeazu by Friday Nwosu, a rival in the 2014 governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The suit was dismissed for lack of merit on Friday, July 8, 2016.
Nwosu, a lawyer, was challenging Ikpeazu’s candidacy as the PDP candidate in the 2015 elections in which Ikpeazu won, defeating other candidates and sworn into office on May 29, 2015.
Abia Governorship Tussle
Governor Ikpeazu is facing a legal challenge from a bitter rival from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Uche Ogah. A federal high court in Abuja disqualified Dr. Ikpeazu, last Wednesday on account of alleged forged tax returns.
Ikpeazu had filed an appeal and obtained a stay of execution, against the Justice Okon Abang judgement which threw Abia State into a leadership crisis by ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue a certificate of return to Ogah, who did not contest any election.
INEC went on to issue the certificate of return to Ogah in disobedience to the court injunction.
Reports on Friday claimed that the chief judge of the state had “disappeared”.
However, Sunday, Justice Theresa Uzokwe issued a statement denying the reports saying she is “on ground” in Umuahia, the state’s capital. She said the reports were the handiwork of desperate politicians.
“We have become children of war in Abia, and we must fight war,” the Abia governor told his supporters who trooped into Government House, Umuahia in solidarity on Friday, July 1, 2016.
