… Says Chief Edozie Njoku, Remains Party’s National Chairman
…. As He Calls on Party’s NWC For Immediate Intervention
Founder/Chairman, Board of Trustees, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie has asked Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo to put sentiments down for the progress of the party.
Addressing the media, Chief Okorie said that the entire members of APGA, in Nigeria and abroad, especially those in Anambra State, are witnesses to the step taken by the leadership the party under Chief Edozie Njoku, its National Chairman, to advice Gov. Soludo to halt continuous sponsorship of crisis in APGA.
He said the plethora of anti-party activities perpetrated and sponsored by the only governor produced on the platform of the party in the present dispensation, has drawn the attention of highly respected and very senior clergymen in Anambra State, including traditional rulers, association of town union presidents-general, several Anambra State business and intellectual elites.
Okorie also mentioned how at various times, most of these respected citizens, appealed to the governor to cease his unprovoked destabilising war against the survival of the party that provided him with the singular opportunity to realizse his long elusive life time desire to become the governor of Anambra State, after two failed attempts.
“Inspite of all entreaties to Gov. Soludo to give peace a chance to allow APGA to live out its full potential and promise, he remained recalcitrant and carried on like a bull in the China shop.
“When the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered an unambiguous and decisive judgment on the APGA leadership dispute, which affirmed Chief Edozie Njoku as National Chairman of APGA after correcting what Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili (Justice of the Supreme Court rtd) in an elucidating letter referred to as a “trajectory of errors” identified in the earlier judgment the Court delivered on 14th October, 2021 in the same suit, every reasonable Nigerian expected that the protracted leadership dispute in APGA would cease finally following the general rule that there must be an end to litigation,” he stated.
He affirmed that the authentic National Chairman of APGA, Chief Edozie Njoku immediately extended his hand of fellowship to Soludo and his followers repeatedly to join hands with the leadership of our great party to rebuild it.
The APGA Chieftain also explained the he was unrelenting in appealing to Gov. Soludo to use his good office to promote peace and reconciliation in APGA.
Okorie went on, “I intervened in my capacity as the founder and vision bearer of this great party of immense historical importance in Nigeria.
“APGA is the first Igbo contribution to Nigeria’s political party system since 1923 (about 101 years ago).
Forthmore, he did inform that Gov. Soludo and his goons refused to accept the finality of the Supreme Court judgment, as he claimed two members of the National Working Committee of the Party had to approach the FCT High Court 40 in Bwari to seek the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment as provided by the relevant provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
Okorie quoted the judgment, which read, “Any court of record below has the mandate to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The party Chieftain went on to allote that despite all the stumbling blocks put on the part of justice, the trial court delivered “a landmark judgment on the 6th of June, 2023, whereupon, the court affirmed Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA and validated the National Convention of the party held at Owerri, Imo State, on the 31st of May, 2019.
“True to character Gov. Soludo’s faction of APGA proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgment of the trial court. On June 28, 2024, the Court of Appeal, in a crushing and devastating judgment, resolved all the 10 grounds of appeal formulated by Victor Oye, the Appellant in the Soludo sponsored appeal in favor of APGA and dismissed the appeal in a unanimous judgment of three erudite Justices of the Court.
According to him the rest of the party members, resumed the appeal to Gov. Soludo to cease fire and embrace peace in his political interest and in the interest of the Party, adding that in order to underscore the genuine and sincere interest in the peace process, Chief Edozie Njoku, the National Chairman of APGA, honoured Gov. Soludo’s invitation to his Abuja residence.
“Needless to say, the meeting that lasted for nearly 3 long hours was more of a monologue that turned out to be Chief Edozie’s waste of valuable time that could have been deployed to something more productive.
“What followed was yet another frivolous suit slammed on INEC and Chief Edozie Njoku at a Federal High Court by one Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka, a Special Assistant to Gov. Soludo who claims to have been elected as the National Chairman of APGA in an illegal convention that was nullified by the judgement of the FCT High Court referred to above which was upheld by the Court of Appeal.
“The same INEC that over indulged the Soludo faction for nearly two years is now being disparaged by very beneficiaries of INEC protection for the simple reason that the Commission has come to terms with reality and chose to comply with the unambiguous judgment of the Supreme Court which was enforced by a trial court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal. Upon being served the INEC counter-affidavit to their stupid suit, they knew that their suit was dead on arrival.
Their next line of action was to seize the opportunity of filing a motion at the Court of Appeal for leave of court to appeal to the Supreme Court to mischievously include three other reliefs, which are tantamount to reopening a suit the Court of Appeal has dismissed. Gov. Soludo thinks that his unfettered access to the common patrimony of the good people of Anambra State grants him the assurance that the Court of Appeal can easily be compromised.
“The audacity of sponsoring Chief Victor Oye to embark on this latest misadventure at the Court of Appeal is incredible. A contemnor who has blatantly refused to purge himself of contempt is unashamedly before the Court of Appeal to protect his being sentenced for contempt of valid orders of a court of competent jurisdiction.
Nigerians are watching to see whether the appellate court will stand on the side of a contemnor or protect the sanctity of the Nigerian judiciary and rule of law.
“It has become abundantly clear to all discerning Nigerians that Gov Soludo is determined as he threatened, to sacrifice APGA rather than submit to Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of our great Party,” he stressed.
He narrated how APGA made three attempts for registration at INEC in 1996, 1998, and 2002, as he described the party as indestructible that will outlive all its members, including Gov. Soludo.
“Nobody born of a woman can prevent APGA from recovering its rightful place in Nigeria’s political space as the only political party in Nigeria anchored on genuine progressive ideology. Nobody born of a woman can be an undertaker to bury APGA as Prof. Soludo boasted in his tantrums and hallucinations,” added Okorie.
He advised the NWC of APGA to activate without delay the party’s disciplinary machinery to sanction all those who may be found guilty of anti-party activities and whose actions and utterances have brought the Party to public ridicule and shame.
“I strongly advise that the Party’s disciplinary measures must include but not limited to Prof Chukwuma Soludo,” he concluded.
End.
