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| Malami |
The Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami has stated that his office had nothing to do with the recognition of Abia State, oil magnate, Samson Ogah as governor of the the state.
In a statement Sunday, signed by the special adviser on media and publicity to the AGF, Salisu Isah, Mr. Malami said media reports alleging that his office had instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to issue certificate of return to Mr. Ogah were false and completely baseless.
Mr. Malami noted that his constitutional powers on the matter had not been invoked, and as a strong believer in the rule of law, he prefers that the law should naturally take its course.
"The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the insinuations that the AGF 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.
"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 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", the statement said.
"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", it added.
The statement warned that parties involved should, await the decision of the court, and called on Nigerian to desist from dragging the AGF into what it discribed as 'knotty issues of this kind'.
A Federal High Court, in Abuja presided over by Justice Okon Abang had on June 27 annulled the election of the incumbent governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu , after finding him guilty of tax evasion.
Mr. Abang had also ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Ogah to pave way for his swearing-in.
Mr. Ikpeazu appealed the judgment and notified INEC of the development.
But the electoral umpire went ahead to execute the order of the court on June 30, saying it never received any notice of appeal from Mr. Ikpeazu.
