The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said that he has not taken any position on the Abia governorship crisis because his view has not been sought.
Malami, however, advised parties involved in the crisis to await the decision of the court before taking any action.
This is contained in a statement signed by Salisu Isah, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
In the statement, Isah said that as far as the minister was concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office had not been sought on the issue.
He said that so far, nobody had approached the minister to proffer any legal opinion on the matter.
“As a strong believer in the rule of law, it is my belief that the law should naturally take its cause; the attorney-general will not be dragged into this controversy at this point.
“The parties involved should await the decision of the courts.”
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was sacked by the court after he was found guilty of tax evasion. The court also ordered the electoral commission, INEC, to issue a certificate of return to Ikpeazu’s main challenger for the Peoples Democratic Party ticket, Uche Ogah. Although INEC complied with the directive, Ikpeazu has filed an appeal against the court judgement and still sits as governor.
Malami’s statement said the federal government was not involved in the dispute.
“The attention of the attorney-general has been drawn to the insinuations and crass lies being peddled by a cross-section of Nigerians and various media platforms alleging his involvement in the legal logjam in the state.
“He wishes 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.
“They want to misinform them that it was the minister, and by extension, the Federal Government that gave directives to INEC to issue Certificate of Return to Dr Uchechukwu Ogah declaring him governor-elect.
“The attorney-general has definitely not taken any action either by spoken words or body language as far as this Abia governorship crisis is concerned.’’
The press secretary said the rumours were not true.
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