More reactions have continued to trail the stalemate in Abia following the issuance of governorship Certificate of Return to Mr Uche Ogah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by INEC.
The electoral body had last week issued the certificate in obedience to an Abuja Federal High Court ruling on the sitting governor’s tax payment before the 2015 poll, directing that Ogah should be sworn-in as governor. But Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, who won the PDP’s ticket, had refused to vacant office as he had appealed the judgment.
Mr Ayo Ayodele, a former Ogun Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, said Ikpeazu should vacate office as ruled by the court. According to him, it is better for the governor to respect the judgement of the court than to resort to violence.
“We cannot have two governors in a state and the honourable thing for him to do is to obey the court judgement and later take the matter to the Supreme Court.
“I want to commend Mr Uche Ogah, who has been declared governor to take over and the incumbent governor, Ikpeazu for maintaining peace which is fundamental and important,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
For a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Ejike Okpe, what had happened in Abia was an attempt to make a mockery of the nation’s judicial system.
Okpe, however, noted that INEC was“ too hasty” in issuing a certificate of return to Ogah in the light of an appeal and a motion for stay of execution against the judgment at the Court of Appeal which was duly served on the respondents including INEC.
“It is trite law that the filing of a notice of appeal does not operate as a stay, but where a notice of appeal coupled with a motion for stay of execution of the judgment appealed against is pending at the Court of Appeal, the law requires the parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the appeal.
”It would have amounted to setting a bad precedent if Ogah had been sworn-in as the governor in the light of the pendency of the notice of appeal and motion for stay of the judgment of the lower court as well as the injunction restraining the State Chief Judge from swearing him in,” he said in an interview.
“Dr Okezie Ikpeazu remains the governor of Abia until the appeal process is completed.”
He also said that since the parties are already ventilating their grievances in the courts, it was incumbent on them to allow the judicial process to be completed to avoid heating up the polity.
Also commenting on the Abia impasse, Mr Dotun Adetunji, the immediate past Chairman, Ikorodu Branch of NBA in Lagos State, said the court ought not to have issued an order that INEC should issue a certificate of return and for the new entrant to assume office.
“The courts are not just an arbiter of the temple of justice on legal/civil disputes, they are also an arbiter of social lives of the people. “I am sure that the court which hoisted the incumbent governor knew that he would likely appeal that judgment.
“The court is supposed to entrench normalcy in our polity both at the legal and social levels.
“And so, the High Court of first judgment ought to pass the duty to the appellate court to rule on who should be the legitimate occupant of the Abia Governor’s office.
“By so doing, the court has allowed our society to avoid this socio-political malady Abia politics now finds itself.”
He urged the authorities of the nation’s judiciary to conduct more training for judges especially on electoral matters to escape the conflicting judgments that could threaten the polity.
Adetunji added:“We as lawyers are amazed with some of these judgments that conflict with one another.
“These conflicting judgments give the impression that the minds that made them were either not trained enough or not grounded on the social responsibility of the law to the society.’’
The current Chairman of Ikorodu NBA, Mr Levi Adikwaone, said the appellate court should be given eminent jurisdiction to speedily adjudicate on the issues in Abia politics. He described the conflicting rulings from the two High Courts as embarrassing to the nation’s judiciary and drawbacks to Nigeria’s democratization.
He said:“I expect that the status quo should remain while the Appeal Court clears the air on all issues about the imbroglio of who is governor and politics that mar the political development of Abia State. “It will bAe most ingenious for the nation’s judiciary to allow the Appeal Court address all the issues while all the parties maintain their initial status until then.’’
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