The AGF, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Salihu Isah, asked the embattled governor and Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, who was issued a Certificate of Return by INEC last Thursday, to wait for the courts to resolve the crisis.
Malami’s reaction coincides with the hearing of the motion for a stay of execution of the judgment filed by Governor Ikpeazu on Monday (today) before Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja, who delivered the judgment that sacked the governor.
Justice Abang had sacked Ikpeazu for allegedly disclosing false information in relation to his tax clearance details to INEC in his form nominating him as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2015 governorship election in Abia State.
The judge, also in the said judgment, ordered Ogah, who was the first runner-up in the primary that produced Ikpeazu as the candidate of the PDP, to be sworn in as the state governor.
The judge held that Ikpeazu was not qualified to be the PDP’s candidate, having disclosed false information to INEC in violation of his party’s election guidelines and the Electoral Act.
He ordered that Ogah, which the court recognised as the winner of the PDP governorship primary, be issued a Certificate of Return and be sworn in as governor in Ikpeazu’s stead.
A few hours after INEC presented the Certificate of Return to Ogah on Thursday in Abuja, an Abia State High Court issued an order, stopping the state Chief Judge or others from swearing-in Ogah.
Ikpeazu declared that he remained governor of the state despite the court's order sacking him.
The AGF's reaction is that, “As far as the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office have not been invoked on this issue. So far, nobody has approached him to proffer any legal opinion to it.
“The parties involved should await the decision of the court." We'll hear from the judge later on Monday.
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