Sacking: Court verdict holds no water, says Alex Otti

Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti has told residents of the state to keep calm on his alleged sacking by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano State.

Recall that Otti’s candidacy and that of other Labour Party members in Abia and Kano states were nullified by a judge due to non-compliance with the provisions of the 2022 electoral act.

The judge ruled that the party’s failure to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries made the process null and void.

Otti, however, insisted that preparations for his inauguration on May 29 were proceeding as planned.

He mentioned that the actions of those opposed to democracy would not prevent the people of Abia from having their way.

The governor-elect who spoke through his media aide, Ferdinand Ekeoma, with Vanguard said Kano court’s judgment “holds no water and stands on nothing.”

He said, “It has no basis, and nobody should bother about it. If they had a case why didn’t they file it in Abia?

“Even the one they filed in Kano, they intentionally did not want to join us. The judge knows that, and did not pass any verdict on us because Otti was not joined.”

Otti further explained that similar cases had already been filed against two Labour Party House of Representatives candidates in Abia but were all dismissed even by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Tanka Yunusa, the chief spokesperson of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, said the Federal High Court judgement nullifying the candidature of Alex Otti, will not stand.

Yunusa, speaking exclusively to DAILY POST on Friday, explained that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the electoral matter.

Yunusa said there was no cause for alarm because the legal team of the Labour Party was working to appeal the judgement.

He said the judgement was the work of the opposition party, noting that the will of Abians will stand.

He said, “The judgement will not stand because the Federal High Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain an electoral matter. It is within the jurisdiction of the electoral tribunal.

“I believe this is the work of the opposition party; however, the will of the Abia people will stand”.

In the March 18 governorship election, Otti polled 175,467 votes to emerge the winner.