The Chairman Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie has asked the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuemeka Soludo to allow the party to breath.
Okorie, who stated this in a statement he issued in Abuja on Friday, also said that the party has been turned into a cash cow.
He accused APGA members from Anambra State of hijacking the party to the extent that it has been derisively nicknamed as Agulu People’s General Assembly (APGA), Agulere People’s General Assembly (APGA) and Aguata People’s General Assembly (APGA).
Chekwas, who argued that all the rulings on the National Chairmanship of APGA had favoured Chief Edozie Njoku said it is absurd for the Anambra State governor to be support division in the party.
He said, “it is to be emphasized that the erroneous judgment of 14th October 2021 has since been discarded and has ceased to exist in the records of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“It is this judgment that the FCT High Court 40, Bwari enforced in its well-considered judgment delivered on 6th June 2023, which specifically affirmed Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA.
“Chief Victor Oye proceeded to the Court of Appeal to appeal the judgment of the FCT High Court 40, Bwari and the judgment that found him guilty of contempt of court for convening a national convention of APGA in flagrant disobedience of the order of court not to do so.
“At the Court of Appeal Chief Victor Ike Oye formulated 4 grounds of appeal against the judgment that found him guilty of contempt of court and 6 grounds of appeal against the judgment that enforced the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“On the 28th of June, 2024, in a landmark unanimous judgment delivered via zoom by a panel of 3 Justices and watched by interested members of the public in Nigeria and in the diaspora resolved all the 10 grounds of appeal in favour of the respondents namely: Otumba Kamaru Lateef Ogidan and Alhaji Rabiu Mustapha – members of the National Working Committee of APGA elected along with Chief Edozie Njoku at the Owerri convention.
“It is heartbreaking how a progressive political party founded on clearly defined progressive ideology captured succinctly in the party’s manifesto and the directive principles of its objectives in the party constitution registered with INEC has over time been reduced to a cash cow by political brigands and buccaneers for nearly 20 years out of its 22 years existence.”
Further, he said, “APGA has been derisively described at various times as Agulu People’s General Assembly (APGA), Agulere People’s General Assembly (APGA) and Aguata People’s General Assembly (APGA), depending on which part of Anambra State each governor elected on the platform of the party hails from.
APGA became the only party in Nigeria where a Treasurer who was not in the line of succession in the party was imposed on the party as national chairman without passing through the process of national convention.
APGA became the only party in Nigeria where a person called Victor Oye was practically conscripted from nowhere and foisted on the party in a kangaroo convention at Awka, Anambra State as national chairman even before he became a registered member of the party.
It is this same APGA that Governor Chukwuma Soludo appointed his Special Assistant called Sly Ezeonwuka and foisted him as the national chairman of the party in an illegal convention nullified by a court of competent jurisdiction and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
This is a clear case of executive rascality by a governor who swore to an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the rule of law.
“In about 20 out of 22 years of the existence of APGA, all national activities of the party were held at Awka, Anambra State. Over 60% of the National Working Committee of the party comes from Anambra State.
“INEC which has the statutory mandate to ensure that political parties observed Federal Character in its leadership structure as clearly stated in the Electoral Act turned the other face until recently that Daniel has come to judgment in the person of Chief Edozie Njoku as National Chairman.
“The Nigerian public is waiting to see that audacious and suicidal counsel that will look the Supreme Court in the face and demand that the apex court should reverse its gazzetted judgment.
“It is unfortunate that the rebellious gang in APGA believes that what money cannot do does not exist, but the authentic APGA believes that what God cannot do does not exist.
“Nigerians who are lovers of democracy should join to admonish Governor Soludo of Anambra State to allow APGA to breathe.”