Abia crisis: Why we sacked Ikpeazu — Abuja court

The Federal High Court yesterday said Justice Okon Abang ordered Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu’s sack because the judge found that he allegedly submitted false tax information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The court said the case had nothing to do with forgery of tax documents.

The court’s Chief Registrar, Emmanuel Gakko, said in a statement that there were two different cases against Ikpeazu.

He said one of the cases was filed by Sir Friday Nwosu against Dr. Ikpeazu and Dr. Sampson Uche Ogah as defendants. The case was before Justice Ambrose Allagoa.

In the second suit before Justice Abang, Dr. Ogah was the plaintiff while Dr. Ikpeazu and Sir Nwosu were the defendants.

The court said the case before Justice Allagoa bothered on alleged forgery or falsification of tax certificate and  receipts for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Dr Ikpeazu.

In deciding the case, Justice Allagoa held that “a mere nebulous averment is not enough for the purpose of pleading the crime of forgery.”

According to the judge, “forgery is a criminal offence and must be proved, which the plaintiff failed to do.”

The statement added: “The court further held that by the affidavit of the Abia State Director of Taxes testifying that the documents are genuine, the court held that there was presumption of genuineness of the assessment and the certificate and/or receipts issued to Dr. Ikpeazu.

“The court further held that the consequential reliefs have become unnecessary for the court’s consideration.

“It should be noted that the court did not make any consequential orders with regard to the position of the governor other than the allegation of forgery.”

The Chief Registrar said the case before Justice Abang had a different subject-matter, which is that Dr. Ikpeazu submitted form CF001 to INEC which were alleged to contain false information.

“The court held that the information in Form CF.001 as shown by him (Ikpeazu) in the affidavit accompanied with other documents to INEC are false and has nothing to do with forgery.

“The court, therefore, made consequential orders under the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, which disallows any transfer of rights or interest in any subject matter that is being litigated upon during the pendency of litigation in respect of the said subject-matter.

“The court accordingly declared Dr Ogah as the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries and should be issued with the Certificate of Return accordingly.”

The Chief Registrar said the clarification became necessary in view of “misrepresentation of facts as published in some electronic and print media and comments by both legal practitioners and laymen on the correct facts of the cases involving the Abia State Governor and the judgment of Hon. Justice O. E. Abang and Hon. Justice A. L. Allagoa.”