Ogbulafor hails Appeal Court's judgment on Gov's reinstatement

Prince

Ogbulafor told the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN ) in Umuahia on Saturday that the Appeal judgment, ``to me, is great, simply and fantastic’’.

He said that the judgment, which set aside the June 27 judgment of Justice Okon Abang sacking Ikpeazu from office ``has restored the integrity of the judiciary’’.

``It reaffirmed the common adage that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man," he said.

He said that many Nigerians and PDP members were alarmed by the verdict of Abang.

Ogbulafor, who is an advocate of power shift to Abia south senatorial district in the 2015 polls, faulted Abang's judgment.

According to him, ``a sound judgment should have many tripods’’ upon which it could stand, such as ``fairness, unity of the people, equity and justice’’.

He argued that the judgment that sacked Ikpeazu, who was elected in the spirit of ``equity, fairness, justice and continued unity among the people’’, did not consider the tripods.

Ogbulafor also decried the speed with which the Independent National Electoral Commission issued the Certificate of Return to Dr Uche Ogah.

He said, ``and to worsen the case, INEC gave a certificate of return to somebody who did not contest the primary, without waiting for the mandatory 21days for Ikpeazu to appeal the judgment’’.

He said that the series of suits challenging the election of the governor since his assumption of office had distracted him from providing the dividend of democracy to the people.

Ogbulafor said that the PDP committee set up to reconcile aggrieved aspirants back to the party after the primaries made entreaties to all the aspirants, including Ogah.

As the chairman of the reconciliation committee, he regretted that the advice to some of the aggrieved persons did not yield the desired result.

``I even used myself as an example, when I told them how I contested the governorship election twice and lost.

``And when my bishop and other prominent Abia indigenes came to me to withdraw my suit challenging the election of Chief Orji Kalu, I did so without collecting a dime.

``I remained calm and God later elevated me to become a minister and national chairman of PDP," he said, pointing out that ``power comes from God’’.

Ogbulafor, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of PDP, expressed the confidence that the party would get over the current leadership crisis at the national level before 2019.

He appealed to the warring factions to sheath their sword in the interest of the party and vision of its founding fathers.