...Ex-Majority Leader asks CJN to Probe Verdict

The former Majority Leader of the Abia House of Assembly, Hon Osita Igbe has called on the Chief Justice of the federation to institute a probe panel to review the Court of Appeal judgment in Owerri that nullified the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of PDP and declared Chief Alex Otti of APGA as duly elected in the Abia governorship election conducted in April last year.

Igbe opined that the controversy which the judgment has generated even amongst renowned and unbiased jurists might end up ridiculing the judiciary.

In a statement made available to ThisDay in Enugu, Igbe contended that both the appointment of the judges and the judgment they delivered were immersed in controversy, adding a situation where the four of the judges were drawn from one judicial division only when there are 16 Appeal Court Divisions smacks of a high level judicial manipulation to favour a choice candidate.

Igbe, who is also the founding member Global Organization of Parliamentarian Against Corruption (GOPAC) further described it as a rape of democracy.

The statement reads: “my attention has been drawn to the last Thursday’s verdict of the Appeal Court in Owerri which upturned the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal in Umuahia that upheld the election of Gov Okezie Ikpeazu of PDP and declared Alex Otti of APGA winner and wish to state that the best remedy to the barrage of allegations of compromise against the judges is for the Chief Justice of the federation to set up a probe panel to probe the judgment and allegations arising there from.

“There are allegations that the judgment was not only handwritten but that the delivering of it was delayed till evening of the day of the judgment and that efforts made by other interested parties to collect the judgment, as it is normally this case, was frustrated by the fact the judges did not leave any typed copy of the judgment with the Registrar before leaving the court premises.

“It was also alleged that the judges did not leave any information as to how and when the copies would be made available.