Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given reasons why it decided to issue a Certificate of Return to Mr. Uche Ogah who came second at the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries in Abia State.
INEC National Commissioner in charge of the South East, Amb. Lawrence Nwuruku said the commission only followed the lawful order of a court.
He added that as a citizen, he could go to jail if he flouts a valid court order, stressing that if the court tomorrow orders a reversal of the action, INEC would not hesitate to do its bidding.
Hear him, “The situation is that we are simply obeying the court order. The court said with immediate effect without wasting of time, we should issue him Certificate of Return and that is what we have done – to obey the court order. If the court tomorrow issues another order, we would obey the same. By the grace of God, I am the INEC Commissioner in charge of South East. I’ll do the same thing if the court orders us to do so. If court says we should issue the same certificate to another person. In this case, court ordered us to issue a Certificate of Return to the person who won the election and that is Uche Ogah. I was the person who gave the Certificate of Return to Gov. Ikpeazu as he was declared winner. Now, the court has said otherwise. One thing we know is that we are not above the law and we cannot disobey the laws of the land. After the court, another person we obey in our land is God and my conscience is my God. Another thing that guides us is the court and we must obey its order with immediate effect. If you were in the court that day, and I urge you the media, to go and study the court ruling very well, it was wonderful; it was direct”, he said.
Earlier, INEC’s Director of Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, stated that the decision followed an order by an Abuja Federal High Court directing INEC to immediately issue Certificate of Return to Mr. Ogah.
Recall that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja had on Monday asked INEC to issue the Certificate of Return issued to Ogah.
Justice Abang, had in his ruling stated that on the account of fake tax returns during the primaries, Mr Ikpeazu, ab initio was never qualified to run in the PDP primaries as a governorship candidate and consequently ordered the Chief Judge of the state to swear in Uche Ogah as the substantive Governor of Abia State.
