…Another urges Ikpeazu to step aside

A coalition of civil society groups, under the aegis of Peace Ambassadors Initiative of Nigeria (PAIN), has asked the Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, to step aside to save people of the state tension and anxiety.
The PAIN, in statement it issued, said that the continued stay of Ikpeazu in office after the judgment setting aside his election has needlessly caused immeasurable tension and anxiety.
The statement, issued by Joshua Okechukwu and Barrister Blessing Asezuwa, the national coordinator and director of publicity of PAIN, respectively, said that Ikeazu knew that in the eye of the law, he stood disqualified as governor.
It said that Ikeazu is “desperate to hang on as governor, spending the budget of Abia State, in the full knowledge that every day he spends in office is a bonus awaiting his final day.”
It also urged the governor to take a cue from a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, who the group described as “a firm believer in the due process of law.”
The group recalled that when Obi was impeached, “he never petitioned the court seeking stay of execution of the impeachment, but dutifully obliged by quitting as governor while waiting for the course of his appeal to be exhausted by the appellate courts.”