Ikpeazu’s continued stay in office illegal – Keyamo

Anti-corruption lawyer, Festus Keyamo, has criticized the continued stay in office of Okezie Ikpeazu as governor of Abia State despite a court order invalidating his Certificate of Return.

In a statement yesterday, Keyamo said the only way to enthrone legality in Abia State was to swear-in Uchechukwu Ogah immediately pending the appeal by Ikpeazu, adding that to remain in office only applies to post-election matters before election tribunals or the Court of Appeal and not pre-election matters as in this case.

A Federal High Court presided by Justice Okon Abang had on June 27 nullified the nomination of Okezie Ikpeazu for including false tax certificate information in his Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form for the December 8, 2014 primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The judge had ordered INEC to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Uchechukwu Ogah, who came second in the primary.

Ikpeazu appealed the order before the Appeal Court in Abuja and obtained a restraining injunction from an Abia High Court against the swearing-in of Ogah.

But Keyamo, who said INEC acted within the ambit of the law by issuing the Certificate of Return to Ogah, argued that the case was not that Ikpeazu presented a forged certificate to INEC, but that he swore to a false affidavit and supplied a false information to INEC that he paid his taxes as at when due.