Abia: Appeal Court Affirms Election of Gov. Otti

The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos yesterday reaffirmed the victory of Dr Alex Otti as the duly elected governor of Abia State.

The court in its verdict dismissed the appeal filed by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their candidates Okey Ahiwe and Ikechi Emenike, respectively, challenging the victory of Governor Otti at the March 18, governorship election held in Abia State.

The Appeal Court spared no sympathy for the two opposition parties in Abia, describing the PDP’s case as “woeful” and that of the APC a “comedy skit”.

According to the court, the judgment of the Federal High Court, Kano, and the reasons for discountenancing it does not form part of the ratio decidendi of the case, saying that all arguments in that respect are deemed otiose and, therefore, suffers the fate of striking out.

Giving other details, the court held that the appeal failed and consequently dismissed it with cost of N1 million awarded against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.

Meanwhile, Governor Otti has insisted that he inherited an uncompleted Government House from his predecessor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu.

In a chat with newsmen in Umuahia on Friday night, Otti explained that he was not living in the Government House because his predecessor commissioned an uncompleted building while the old Government House was left in a dilapidated nature.

His words: “My predecessor commissioned an uncompleted building. That’s a deceit of the highest order. He didn’t need to commission it. The question to ask is, construction started with the administration of T.A. Orji, why didn’t they complete it and move into it?

“But he (Ikpeazu) waited until the twilight of his administration. The upper floors was not touched, in fact, the second floor was not even plastered, so why commission?

“So, I looked at it and found that it was not ready for occupation. The whole environment was also not ready to receive a governor. The office block has been abandoned for several years. So, that place was not a place anybody could live.”

Speaking about the old Government House, Otti said: “Now, I came back here and also found out that the Governor’s Lodge and Governor’s Office were also in dilapidated state. I made an attempt, I sent some government engineers, valuers and they came with an estimated bill for the office alone, over N550 million. I looked at it and said, if I have N550 million, I will deploy it to other sectors, I took decision to operate from my house while I take the renovations one by one as the state finances would carry.”

Otti also revealed his administration’s plan to increase the minimum wage of workers in the state.

He said the reason for adjusting the pay of the workers was because of the present economic realities of the nation.

He announced that the recently retired Permanent Secretaries and Directors would receive arrears of salaries and gratuities due to them, as well as defray pension arrears as earlier promised.

On the issue of alleged spending of over N900 million on food and welfare by his government in the third quarter of this year, Otti described the allegations as unfounded and a hatchet job of individuals who were intimidated by the numerous reforms going on in various sectors of the state.