•Lawyers to fight for Ikpeazu
Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has said the political tussle in the state is making it “atomistic” (at war with itself), thereby creating tension.
The governor noted that such political tension was not happening in other 35 states.
Ikpeazu spoke in Umuahia, the state capital, when he hosted a “Team of Concerned Lawyers”, who pledged to fight for the governor.
He said the Abia governorship controversy was causing apprehension and confusion because of the ambition of one man.
The governor said the fight was not about him but about the office he occupied.
Ikpeazu said: “The Abuja High Court ruling denied me of the right to exercise my fundamental human right, which is the right of appeal.
“So, if it was a case of execution, I would have been killed without giving me time to exercise my right of appeal before a court of competent jurisdiction. This is against the laws of fundamental human rights.”
The governor said some people, who were desperate for power, planned what he likened to a coup d’état against other Abians.
He added that such persons did not have the interest of the state at heart.
Ikpeazu thanked the lawyers for educating the people on the need to remain calm “as the desperados have already come into the state to wreak havoc”.
Team Leader Ogbonnaya Nwanunu said the lawyers would support the governor because of the tense political atmosphere in the state, following what he called unnecessary legal fireworks.
Nwanunu said the lawyer were aware of the legal summersault that descended on the state.
“So, we have come to rob minds with the governor with the aim of finding lasting solutions and the way forward to the current political crisis in the state,” he said.
According to him, after studying the situation, the lawyers concluded that it was a charade, which would collapse like similar cases before it.
Nwanunu said: “The only place where a man who did not contest election became a governor, like what happened in one of the neighbouring states, will never happen again as the Electoral Act has been amended.
“The case in question made the Electoral Act to be amended. So, what is happening in the state, where a man would dream of being a governor and wake up trying to make his dream a reality, is a rape of democracy and a coup d’état.
“We, as a group, will not allow such to stand, for the sake of today and the future.”