Otti reacts to tribunal ruling: “judgment may have been delivered but justice is on the way.”
Special to USAfricaonline.com, and USAfrica multimedia networks, Houston. Follow USAfrica at Facebook.com/USAfricaChido , Facebook.com/USAfrica247 and Twitter.com/Chido247
Dr. Alex Otti, APGA’s Abia Governorship candidate in the April 2015 election, has issued a reaction to the ruling of the Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal delivered in Umuahia earlier today Tuesday November 3, 2015 as “nothing other than a travesty of justice and rape of democracy in the state. It is regrettable that the trial tribunal has again scuttled the people’s hope and desire for positive change, quality and credible governance in the state. It is also unfortunate that the tribunal has unwittingly acquiesced in the sinister conspiracy by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to silence and deny the people the mandate, which they freely gave to me and my party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) during the April general elections in the state.”
He added in the statement sent to USAfricaonline,com and IgboEvents e-group that “It is obvious from the mournful reaction of the common man on the streets of the major towns, cities and villages of Abia state that today’s judgment failed to deliver justice and certainly did not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people expressed through the ballot. Therefore, it certainly cannot stand. The atmosphere of quietude that pervades the length and breadth of the state, in the wake of the judgment clearly demonstrates the feeling of a people shortchanged by an incredible electoral process.”
Dr. Otti noted “It is further compounded by the incomprehensible affirmation by the tribunal’s judgment, which legalized the broad-day ambush and robbery of the peoples mandate by PDP. I share in the agony, pain, disbelief and frustration of our people. Nevertheless, I encourage our supporters not to despair but to further gird their loins. The battle has not ended.”
In an indication of his next move to appeal the ruling. he stated that “We shall explore the next judicial window to seek redress in order to ensure that justice is done and that we recover our stolen mandate. I urge you to be calm, peaceful and law abiding while our legal team of erudite lawyers study the judgment and initiate the next line of action.”
“We did not envisage that the struggle to liberate our dear state from the stranglehold of the slave masters, who have held down the state from growth and development in the last 16 years, would be a tea party. We are committed and resolute and this warped judgment cannot deter us or vitiate our determination and commitment. Rather, it has only strengthened our resolve to fight on until justice is done.”
He concluded that “the struggle is not about the person of Alex Otti but about our state, our impoverished people, our future and that of our future generation.”
networks Chido Nwangwu. CNN anchors John Berman n Michaela Pereira. reportage book, MANDELA & ACHEBE: Footprints of Greatness, about two GLOBAL icons and towering PERSONS of African descent whose exemplary lives
and friendship HOLD lessons for humanity and Africans, USAfrica Founder Chido Nwangwu takes a measure of their works and CONSEQUENCE to write that Mandela and Achebe have left “footprints of greatness.” to Achebe. He moderated the 2012 Achebe Colloquium at Brown UNIVERSITY in Providence, Rhode Island.“I’ll forever remember having walked inside and peeped through that HISTORIC Mandela jail cell (where he was held for most of his 27 years in unjust imprisonment) at the dreaded Robben Island, on March 27, 1998, alongside then Editor-in-chief of TIME magazine and later news chief EXECUTIVE of the CNN, Walter Isaacson (and others) when PRESIDENT BILL Clinton made his first official trip to South Africa and CAME to Robben Island. Come to this island of scourge and you will understand, in part, the simple greatness and towering grace of Nelson Mandela”, notes Chido Nwangwu, award-winning writer, multimedia specialist and founder of USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned U.S-based newspaper published on the INTERNET
, in his first book; he writes movingly from his 1998 reporting from South Africa on Mandela. http://www.mandelaachebechido.com/.
that’s done okezie ikpeazu has won once Again. ..
Chai, stolen mandate indeed. Obviously this man and his followers have no love for Abia State.
that’s done okezie ikpeazu has won once Again. ..
Chai, stolen mandate indeed. Obviously this man and his followers have no love for Abia State.