Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Leader of a splinter group seeking to take over the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Edozie Njoku, has written to the Inspector General(IG) of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, urging him to help his group take possession of the national Secretariat of the party in Abuja.
The petition to the IG came just as the national executive of APGA led by Chief Victor Oye, has debunked the claim by Njoku as dubious, insisting that Supreme Court did not rule in Njoku’s favour.
In a letter signed by Edozie Njoku, dated April 19, 2023 and addressed to the IG he claimed that the Supreme Court had on March 24, 2023 reaffirmed and reinstated him as the national chairman of APGA.
Njoku’s letter read: “ I write to bring to your notice, the judgement of the Supreme Court which reaffirmed and reinstated me as the national chairman of APGA that emerged from the Owerri convention of May 31, 2019”.
He claimed that the Supreme Court had in the judgement ruled that the party officials elected at the Owerri convention has nothing to do with Chief Victor Oye as national chairman of APGA .
Quoting Justice Kudirat Kere- Ekun, Njoku said that the matter decided by the trial court was in relation to the suspension of the first respondent (Edozie Njoku) as chairman and not the second respondent (Victor Oye).
Njoku accused Oye- led national leadership of APGA of allegedly flouting the Supreme Court orders to relinquish the office.
He therefore, requested the IG to: “Deploy five trucks of Police officers for the immediate take-over of the APGA national headquarters by April 20, 2023”.
Meanwhile, the Oye-led National leadership of APGA has described Njoku’s claim that Supreme Court ruled in his favour as blatant lie.
The leadership accused Njoku of forging the judgement of the apex Court and spreading of falsehood against the principled position taken by the court not to interfere with the internal affairs of the party.
It said that Njoku has been indicted of forging the Supreme Court judgement and is presently standing trial at the High Court in Bwari, in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT).
A statement signed by the APGA National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Tex Okechukwu, said: “In other to put an end to the misleading claim by Edozie Njoku to the general public and other uninformed members of the party, the apex court on 5th of April, 2023 forwarded the certified true copy of the judgment of the court in suit number SC/CV/687/2021 between Chief jude Okeke vs. APGA & ORS, which affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal Kano Division recognizing Dr. Victor Oye as the authentic National Chairman of APGA alongside the enrollment order of the ruling of 24/3/2023 correcting the accidental slip which did not affect the main judgment affirming the decision of the Kano Court of Appeal”.
APGA spokesman said that the apex court, through one of its Registrars, as a preemptive step, forwarded the judgment and enrollment order to INEC, “ to place on record the true position of things and to put an end to the shenanigans and subterfuge erected by Edozie Njoku over the leadership of APGA with a view to clarifying the misinformation already dished out to the public and to further notify INEC that the Supreme Court never affirmed Edozie Njoku as APGA National Chairman.
“This development we gathered is sequel to further criminal investigation being carried out by the police on the continued fraudulent and dubious claims to the National Chairmanship of APGA by Edozie Njoku ever since the ruling of 24/3/2023 and ahead of his criminal trial coming up on 17th April, 2023,” he said.
