The Supreme Court will on November 15, hear a suit challenging the
qualification of
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP)
in Abia State in the 2015 election.
A chieftain
of the PDP, Sir Friday Nwosu, who ran for the December 8,
2014, PDP governorship
primaries in Abia State, had accused Ikpeazu of submitting
false information
and fake tax receipts to INEC and PDP. Nwosu prayed the
court to disqualify
Ikpeazu and declare him the lawful PDP candidate and
governor of Abia State.
The case which is a pre lection matter had suffered serious
delays as Ikpeazu
has made several moves to ensure it was not
heard.
According
to a hearing notice signed by the
Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mrs. George Oloto .O, Suit
No. SC/693/ 2017,
Sir Friday Nwosu vs PDP, INEC, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and
Dr. Uche
Ogah, has been fixed for hearing, on November
15th, at the Supreme
Court.
A 5 man
panel of the Court of Appeal had on July 18, declined
judgment on the suit
insisting that it was the same Uchechukwu Ogah vs Okezie
Ikpeazu suit decided
by the Supreme Court on May 12, 2017. But Nwosu described
the verdict as a
miscarriage of justice by the panel.
Pointblanknews.com
gathered that the Abia governor had become too desperate as
the apex court
begins hearing on the matter. Sources close to Ikpeazu said
his lawyers had
warned him to seek a political solution to the suit as the
Supreme Court cannot
ignore the obvious false information and discrepancies on
his tax receipts. The
Abia governor had made several attempts to compromise the
Justices of the
Supreme Court through the Director General of the Department
of State Services
(DSS), Lawal Daura, who he bought a mansion for at
Asokoro.
Ikpeazu
and his godfather, Theodore Orji, have
boasted at several fora that they have the means to
compromise the Justices of
the Supreme Court to deliver justice in their
favour.
Meanwhile,
in what could be described as a lack of respect for the
hierarchy of courts in
the country, Ikpeazu has filed a state at the Abia State
High Courts, sitting
at Aba an Omoba, in suits Nos, A/
242/17, Ikpeazu vs Friday Nwosu and HOM /9/17/ , TA Orji vs
Friday Nwosu. Theodore
Orji’s son, Chinedum also filed a suit against, all
claiming N1 billion.
Pointblanknews.com
further gathered that the facts that Ikpeazu, Orji and
Chinedum, are pleading
are the same Nwosu is canvassing at the Supreme Court
seeking for Ikpeazu’s
disqualification.
The Supreme
Court may have to decide Nwosu’s appeal on time before
Ikpeazu, Theodore Orji
and son, Ikuku, can claim any defamation damage arising from
presenting false
information and fake tax documents to INEC.