A magistrate court sitting in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, has issued a bench warrant on former minister of state for mines and steels, Dr Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah.
The court ordered the Abia police commissioner to arrest and detain Ogah for failing to appear before it to answer a question of alleged forgery brought before it by Ogah’s political party, the All Progressives congress (APC).
Abia APC had dragged Ogah to court over the document he used to obtain a court victory declaring him the party’s governorship flag bearer for the upcoming 2023 guber poll.
Ogah, APC’s lawyers argued in court, forged the signatures of the party’s state chairman and secretary and presented it before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja. That court, on November 11, declared Ogah as the duly elected governorship candidate of the APC in Abia.
The judgement invalidated the candidacy of Ikechi Emenike who was earlier recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate for the March 11, 2023 governorship election.
APC’s lawyers, later arguing before the Abia magistrate, accused Ogah of obtaining the Abuja court judgement fraudulently.
Following Ogah’s failure to appear before the magistrate to defend himself, the court, sitting in Abia on Thursday, ordered him to be arrested and detained.
Information was still sketchy at the time of filing the report as the court officials our reporter met refused to speak on the matter.