Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Monday disassociated himself from a rumour that he was negotiating with the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance in the April governorship poll in the state, Dr. Alex Otti, to withdraw his suit challenging Ikpeazu’s victory in the election.
Otti had gone to the tribunal to challenge the victory of Ikpeazu of the PDP, citing widespread irregularities in the election which held on April 11, 2015.
The ex-Diamond bank boss, who issued a statement on Sunday in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, said, “the mandate freely given to me through the ballot is non-negotiable.”
In the statement entitled, “My governorship mandate non-negotiable,” Otti had claimed that different emissaries from his opponents had approached him for a truce.
He insisted that no amount of persuasion would make him to succumb.
But Ikpeazu, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue, said Otti was trying to deceive the members of the public with his claims to create a false impression that he ( Ikpeazu ) was in a tight corner.
He asked Ikpeazu to make public the identities of the emissaries he claimed approached him on his ( Ikpeazu’s) behalf to withdraw his suit at the Abia State Election Petitions Tribunal.
Ikpeazu said Otti lied about his claims and asked him to mention those he claimed approached him to drop his petition.
