ABIA CRISIS: I won’t relinquish power to Ogah — Ikpeazu

As the Abia political crisis lingers with various interest groups coming to Umuahia Government House for solidarity with Governor Ikpeazu, the embattled governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu yesterday, vowed that he could not afford to relinquish his seat to Dr. Uche Ogah, saying that the mandate was freely given to him by God and Abia people.



The Governor also claimed that the mandate given to him by Abia voters has spiritual connotation which he could not afford to abandon. Ikpeazu, who spoke while addressing the people of Abia North who were on a solidarity visit to him at the Government House, Umuahia, disclosed that he had previously visited Uche Ogah three times to solicit his support and urged him to drop his ambition but to no avail.

Don’t over-heat the polity, OYC warns Ohanaeze Youth Council has warned against over-heating the political situation in the state and allow the judiciary to resolve the political impasse. Specifically, Ohanaeze youths have attacked fiery Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo for his legal opinion on the Justice Okon Abang judgment, describing his call for the immediate swearing -in of Dr. Uche Ogar as Abia governor as “vexatious antics and vituperations.”

The group dismissed Keyamo’s legal opinion on the matter as “a slap on the legal profession,” and “nothing but a verbal diarrhoea.” Faulting Keyamo’s legal opinion, the group in a statement by Mazi Okemiri Alex, the chairman of State chairmen of OYC and Chetachi Ikpe, Abia State deputy chairman of the group, asked if “Keyamo was not aware that the governor of Abia State Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is in the Appeal Court to challenge the decision of the Federal High Court in Abuja.”

The group condemned what it called “all manner of unguarded statements on the Abia political crisis by people from across the country just to be noticed, rewarded or just talk for talking sake.”

 OYC also condemned the call by a group,Ndigbo Bu Otu Union which gave Governor Okezie Ikpeazu seven days to vacate Umuahia Government House and warned that “any attempt to unleash violence on Abians and Ndigbo will be resisted.” According to them, the group is non-existent but was just thrown up by politicians to create tension in Abia State and urged those behind it to retrace their steps and give peace a chance in the state.