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Read his statement below:
"DISTINGUISHED LADIES
AND GENTLEMEN
I have just been
informed that the Court of Appeal sitting at Owerri has nullified my victory as
the duly elected Governor of Abia State and ordered that one of my opponents at
the election, Dr. Alex Otti should be sworn in as the winner of the election.
As of this moment, I
have not received the full briefing on the reason for the decision of the Court
of Appeal but my Lawyers are still at the Court waiting to obtain a copy of the
Judgment for further studying and it is past 7pm. The next 4 days are Public
Holidays and the timing of the judgment means that we are losing valuable days
to study the judgment and file our Appeal.
I wish to state at
this point that preliminary reports available to me indicate that the premise
upon which the decision of the Court of Appeal was arrived at is at best
tenuous.
That being said, I
wish to express my utmost confidence in the ability of the Justices of the
Supreme Court to correct the anomaly at the Court of Appeal and uphold my
victory as had been earlier done by the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in
Umuahia.
In the interim,
while I have instructed my Lawyers to take steps to file an immediate Appeal at
the Supreme Court, I wish to assure all Abians that all is well. I remain the
Governor of Abia State until the Supreme Court reaffirms my mandate which was
freely given to me by the good people of Abia State during the elections.
I call on the
Security Agencies to maintain the peace in Abia State and ensure that people go
about their legitimate businesses without fear of disruption from any quarters.
I also call on our supporters to remain calm in the face of provocation.
I remain supremely
confident that at the end of the day, victory shall be ours.
I thank you all for
listening and wish you a prosperous 2016".
Okezie Victor
Ikpeazu, Ph.D
Governor, Abia State
