A group, the South East Progressives Assembly (SEPA) has criticised the Court of Appeal ruling which declared Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner of the 2015 governorship election, nullifying the election of the sitting governor, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu Ph.D, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

SEPA in a press briefing disclosed that the justices of the 5-man panel were politically influenced by an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, also a former governor of Lagos state, who used his connection to make sure that the justices were drawn from Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal.

SEPA also revealed that information available to it “suggests that Alex Otti struck a deal with the ex-governors of Lagos and Rivers states who are chieftains of the APC to decamp and submit Abia to the grip and political control of the APC should they help him grab the governorship at the court of appeal.”

Unknown to “these political merchants and the 5-man panel of the court of appeal, the constitution does matter,” SEPA said, adding that the electoral act did not matter to them; “even the people of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala-Ngwa North with recorded voting strength of about 300,000 didn’t also matter. What mattered to them, which also informed the Owerri judgment, is that Alex Otti must be awarded the governorship with or without the mandate of the Abia electorate.”

SEPA, President, Ebere Uzoukwa, however calls for calm in Abia State, especially in areas where embattled Governor Ikpeazu holds sway.

•Photo shows Gov. Ikpeazu.