S'COURT RULING: Abia APGA Guber Candidate Accept Defeat, You Won't Believe What He Is Asking For

By Olaoluwakitan Babatunde

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court, upholding the election
of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as the winner of the 2015 governorship
election in Abia State, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance, APGA, Dr. Alex Otti, has asked APGA supporters and
indigenes of the State to remain focused on the critical task of re-
developing the State.


Alex Otti while speaking  with journalists in Lagos, expressed gratitude to his
supporters and disclosed that his candidacy was borne out of his
desire to serve Abia and provide quality leadership the State had
lacked for close to 16 years.


“After watching the fortunes of Abia wane for
decades, we stood for an election to provide an alternative to the
status quo. All those who followed the events leading to the
election can confirm that we provided credible opposition during
the electioneering process and as a result, the 2015 elections in
Abia were unlike any the State has ever witnessed.’’He said


Alex Otti who hailed the judiciary as the hope of the common man when the appeal court cancelled the election of the three LGA in Abia has this to say , “However, for us it is not a matter of life and death. As a party,
we accept the ruling of the Supreme Court, although we do not
agree with the judgment as we believe that justice had not been
served. It is very important to underscore at this point, that the
Supreme Court, which is composed of human beings, is not
infallible. We believe this ruling was a mistake, but we know that
one cannot expect to receive justice every time.” He added.



Commenting on the nation’s electoral system and recent
judgments on elections in Delta, Akwa Ibom; Kwara and Ebonyi,Dr Alex
Otti observed that the judgements at the apex court had followed
the same process which he described as a bandwagon effect.

The former Diamond bank cheif thereafter called for a cleansing and an overhaul of the
Judiciary which he observed had been worrying even the nation’s
number one citizen, President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Otti, “We cannot speculate on why the Appeal Court
judgment was not upheld, but a lot of things still have to change
in the electoral system, as it is highly irregular to award victory in
an election to someone who did not win the majority of votes
cast. Moreover, President Buhari complained that judiciary was
his headache and now we can see beyond the President’s
headache.

“The truth however, is that change has to start with the political
class. At present, we have lost all moral rectitude. In established
democracies, people who stand for office have careers, and only
stand for office in order to serve their people, but here in Nigeria,
there are individuals of high social standing who are idle, but
somehow receive monthly allowances drawn from the federation
account. This is the sort of illegality we hoped to put an end to.”
Speaking on his plans for re-election in the future, Otti disclosed
that he would wait to assess progress in Abia under the new
administration before making a final decision.

“ I believe it is a bit early in the day to start making such plans. I
would not want to make comments that may upset anyone, so I
will observe what happens in the State in the next few years. We
should not distract anyone right now with talk of 2019, but I can
assure you that I will always be available to improve the lot of my
people.” He said.

Details of the Supreme Court’s ruling are expected to be made
public on February 26, 2016.

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