The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice has denied any involvement in the governorship tussle in Abia
State saying he had no hand in the matter. A statement issued by his
office said despite insinuations in the media that he was involved in the
situation in Abia was baseless and advised all the parties in the case to
await a decision of the court.
The statement reads:
Abia State: Parties involved should await the decisions of the court -AGF
1. The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the insinuations and
crass lies being peddled and disseminated by a cross-section of Nigerians
and the various media platforms that the Honourable Attorney General of
the Federation is behind the legal logjam over the Abia state governorship
seat and wish to clarify that those canvassing this position have no basis
to do so.
2. Of particular concern are those who have peddled ill-natured rumours
with a view to misinform our discerning populace that the Honourable
Attorney General of the Federation and by extension, the Federal
Government of Nigeria that gave directives to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Certificate of Return to Dr.
Uchechukwu Ogah declaring him Governor-Elect. He has definitely not taken
any action either by spoken words or body language as far as this Abia
governorship crisis is concerned.
3. I wish to therefore, on behalf of my principal declare that these
rumours are untrue and a figment of the imagination of those pushing these
selfish, shameless and irredeemable lies into public space which only
translates to partisanship on the side of its purveyors.
4. As far as the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is
concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office
have not been invoked on this issue. So far, nobody has approached him to
proffer any legal opinion to it. As a strong believer in the rule of law,
it is his belief that the law should naturally take its cause. The
Honourable Attorney General of the Federation will not be dragged into
this controversy and mind-games being played out by the various legal
minds and spin doctors of both camps at this point.
5. The parties involved should await the decision of the courts.
6. In fact, we wish to by this statement advice those in the habit of
dragging the highly esteemed Office of the Honourable Attorney General of
the Federation and Minister of Justice into knotty issue of this kind even
when it is yet to take a position. They should desist from these
unwarranted presumptions henceforth.
Signed,
COMRADE SALIHU OTHMAN ISAH
SPECIAL ADVISER, MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
TO THE HON. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE
3RD JULY, 2016