Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, yesterday assured the people of the state that the mandate they gave him in the 2015 election remained safe and intact.
Governor Ikpeazu also assured the people that the state would continue to be on track inspite of the current political crisis.
Ikpeazu gave this assurance while reacting to the issuance of Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission to Dr. Sampson Ogah and plans to swear him into office.
He described the crisis as a temporary set- back allegedly masterminded by an individual who never stood election but had become bent on snatching the mandate the people freely gave him at the polls in April last year.
The governor said, “What is on trial is our democracy. It is not about me as a person but the will of the people of the state and we are baffled by his urgency and desperation to bounce into Government House.
“I want to assure the people and Nigerians in general, that this illegality will not stand. I will test it through the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.”
He stated that he was surprised at the turn of events after he had filed an appeal against the judgment obtained by Ogah against him from an Abuja Federal High Court, which annulled his election on the grounds that he falsified tax receipts.
“ Even if it was a death sentence that was passed on me, I don’t think I deserve to be executed without right of appeal and the right is undeniable and fundamental,“ Ikpeazu added.
While maintaining that a valid court order restraining any other legal officer, anywhere in Nigeria, from swearing in Ogah as the governor already existed , he stressed that everybody knew who was the rightful chief executive officer of the state.
He commended Abia youths for not taking the laws into their hands in response to the ugly development in the state.
Ikpeazu also assured the people that he would not lose focus regarding his determination to deliver his campaign promises to make life more meaningful for the people of the state.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed up around the Abia Government House with two police patrol vans blocking the main gate to the premises.
But Ogah who arrived in the state capital, Umuahia, on Thursday through the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, in a long convoy amid cheers from his supporters, has yet to be seen or make any public statement.
