The founder and pioneer national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Chief Chekwas Okorie has accused Anambra State Governor Prof Chukwuma Soludo of plotting to destroy APGA by disregarding the Supreme Court judgement which certified Chief Edozie Njoku as legitimate national chairman of the party.
Okorie alleged that Njoku’s erstwhile rival, Chief Victor Oye with Soludo’s financial backing, initiated intrigues, blackmail and subterfuge to deter the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from complying with the apex court’s judgement affirming Njoku’s chairmanship of APGA since March 24, 2023.
At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, Okorie said the Supreme Court upheld Njoku’s election alongside other National Working Committee (NWC) members at the APGA national convention of May 31, 2019, in Owerri, Imo State.
Alleging that the Anambra State governor supported Oye’s flouting of all court orders, the founding APGA chairman, added that the erstwhile national chairman convinced INEC to recognise their illegal convention.
Okorie however recalled that June 6, 2023, Justice Mohammed Madugu enforced the judgment of the Supreme Court and nullified all the illegal actions taken by Oye in active collaboration with INEC.
“On the 9th of November, 2023, the trial court in Suit No. FCT/HC/4068/2023 found Chief Victor Oye and Professor Mahmood Yakubu guilty of contempt of court and magnanimously allowed them 14 working days to purge themselves of contempt or face the full wrath of the law,” he added.
He noted that INEC finally complied with the Supreme Court judgement delivered on March 24, 2023, enforced by the FCT High Court on June 6, 2023, and further re-enforced by the Court of Appeal on 28th June 28, 2024, adding that this hard won victory which is being celebrated in Nigeria and abroad has come under vicious attack by Chukwuma Soludo.
“Only recently, after Professor Soludo had spent some time in Abuja, he announced in a public event in Anambra State that he had concluded arrangements while at Abuja to get the Supreme Court to reverse itself and get INEC to withdraw the recognition the Commission had given to Chief Edozie Njoku and his executive,” he alleged.
He further claimed the governor boasted about securing the assurance of the presidency on the review and reversal of the Supreme Court judgment which favoured Njoku.
Okorie said, “He (Soludo) further assured his faction of APGA that INEC would without delay withdraw the recognition given to Chief Njoku and his National Working Committee.”
He continued, “Professor Chukwuma Soludo had boasted to me directly that he would use everything within his powers as the governor of Anambra State, to ensure that Chief Edozie Njoku would never be the National Chairman of APGA.
“He vowed that if for any reason he failed to stop Njoku from becoming National Chairman, he would resign from APGA within 24 hours and that APGA would cease to exist as a political party.
“At that point I took strong exception to his boast. I told him that since he was not God that made APGA possible 22 years ago when it was registered by INEC as a political party that he lacked the power to determine the survival of APGA.
“Notwithstanding the altercation between Professor Soludo and myself, Chief Edozie Njoku and I have individually and separately extended a hand of fellowship to him for peace to reign in APGA.
“Many well-meaning leaders from across the country who upon realizing that it was Professor Soludo that was the stumbling block to a peaceful APGA reached out to him several times. He remained obstinate and unyielding,” he added.
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