Sly Ezeokenwa was acknowledged as the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) after the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld the party’s petition.
before a ruling on Wednesday, the court also fined Edozie Njoku N20 million for bringing a baseless lawsuit before the FCT High Court in Bwari.
Recall that Njoku was prohibited from posing as the party’s national chairman by the Federal High Court in Abuja a few days ago.
Justice James Omotosho ruled that no court decision or judgment, including one from the Supreme Court, recognized Mr. Njoku as the national chairman of the APGA.
According to reports, APGA and Sylvester Ezeokenwa, the National Chairman of APGA, filed the lawsuit as the first and second plaintiffs in the case with the filing number FHC/ABJ/CS/966/2024.
The plaintiffs named Mr. Njoku and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first and second defendants in the original summons, which was filed on July 12.
They launched the lawsuit after the electoral umpire on July 9 removed the names of Mr. Ezeokenwa, a lawyer, and his executive officers from the INEC website and replaced them with the names of the APGA’s Njoku-led leadership.
Justice Omotosho ruled during the ruling that INEC erred in recognizing the party’s Njoku-led leadership.
“There is no subsisting court order upon which it acted. The decision of the Supreme Court was clear as to who the national chairman should be, and it is certainly not Chief Edozie Njoku.
“Chief Victor Oye was, in fact, recognized by law. Furthermore, at the expiration of his (Oye’s) tenure in 2023, a national convention was held on 31 May 2023 in Awka, Anambra State, which produced the 2nd Plaintiff (Ezeokenwa) and other persons as national executives.
“The 1st defendant (INEC) monitored the same and issued a report (Exhibit APGA 1).
“There is nothing before this court faulting the election of the 2nd plaintiff and his executive team as the rightful occupants of the national executive of the party.
“The 1st defendant must, therefore, restore their names as the National Executive Officers of the All Progressives Grand Alliance party,” he said.
In suit number: SC/CV/687/2021 dated 24 March 2023, the court decided that the Supreme Court had resolved the dispute between Njoku and Oye regarding who the legitimate national chairman of the party was.
He held that the Supreme Court did not alter the substance of the judgment delivered on 14 October 2021, “affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgment of the High Court of Jigawa and held that who should be the acting national chairman of the party is within the confines of the internal affairs of the party, which is not justiciable.”
Omotosho asserts that it is evident that the Supreme Court has not issued an order acknowledging Chief Edozie Njoku as the party’s chairman, and it is puzzling that the first defendant could have claimed that its action was motivated by a fictitious court order.
