Abia Crisis: Monarchs flay INEC, commend AGF

Traditional rulers and elders of Abia State have de­scribed as perverse and reckless the issuance of Certificate of Return to Mr Uche Ogah by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the order of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The elders, who de­clared support for the state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, ap­pealed to the people and interest groups in the state to remain calm.

Speaking to journal­ists after a meeting in Abuja recently, the for­mer NDDC Chairman, Chief Onyema Ugo­chukwu, on behalf of the elders commended the Attorney-General of the Federa-tion and Minis­ter of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for his quick and timely intervention which the elders said has helped to reduce tension in the state.

“We, the concerned elders of Abia State, wor­ried by the developments in the recent days which threatened to plunge our state into anarchy, violence and bloodshed, met today in Abuja to re-view the situation

“We reviewed the judgement of Justice Okon Abang, which is the beginning of the unfortunate crisis and INEC’s decision to issue a Certificate of Return to our son, Dr Uchechuk­wu Ogah, which exacer­bated the crisis.

“We came to the con­clusion, unanimously that Justice Abang’s order to issue the cer­tificate to someone who never contested the governorship election against the Electoral Act and well known deci­sions of superior courts, was perverse and reck­less and we condemn it in its entirety. We have also noted the unseem­ing haste of INEC to is­sue the certificate just a few hours after the Jus­tice Abang order and in spite of the fact that INEC had been duly served with a notice of appeal of the said order and the motion for a stay of execution.