The Supreme Court upholds Sylvester Ezeokenwa’s position as the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), ending leadership disputes within the party.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld an appeal by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), recognizing Sly Ezeokenwa as its national chairman.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, the court imposed a fine of N20 million on Edozie Njoku for submitting a frivolous lawsuit at the FCT High Court in Bwari.
Remember that just a few days ago, the Federal High Court in Abuja prohibited Njoku from presenting himself as the party’s national chairman.
In his decision, Justice James Omotosho stated that no legitimate court ruling or order, not even from the Supreme Court, acknowledged Mr. Njoku as the national chairman of APGA.
It has been reported that APGA and Sylvester Ezeokenwa, the National Chairman of APGA, were listed as the first and second plaintiffs in the lawsuit labeled FHC/ABJ/CS/966/2024.
In the originating summons submitted on July 12, the plaintiffs initiated legal action against Mr. Njoku and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), designating them as the 2nd and 1st defendants respectively.
They filed the lawsuit after Mr. Ezeokenwa, a legal practitioner, and his executive officers had their names removed from the INEC website on July 9th. These were replaced by the names of the Njoku-led APGA leadership by the electoral authority.
In delivering the judgment, Justice Omotosho stated that INEC erred in recognizing Njoku’s leadership of the party.
“There is no existing court order that it followed. The Supreme Court’s decision was clear regarding who should be the national chairman, and it’s definitely not Chief Edozie Njoku.”
Chief Victor Oye was legally recognized. Moreover, when his tenure ended in 2023, a national convention took place on May 31, 2023, in Awka, Anambra State. This event resulted in the election of the second plaintiff (Ezeokenwa) and other individuals as national executives.
The first defendant, INEC, observed the activity and produced a report (Exhibit APGA 1).
This court finds no evidence challenging the election of the 2nd plaintiff and his executive team as the legitimate leaders of the party’s national executive.
“The first defendant is required to reinstate their names as the National Executive Officers of the All Progressives Grand Alliance party,” he stated.
The judge decided that the Supreme Court had resolved the issue in the case between Njoku and Oye concerning the legitimate national chairman of the party, as outlined in suit number SC/CV/687/2021 dated March 24, 2023.
He argued that the Supreme Court did not change the essence of the judgment delivered on October 14, 2021. This judgment affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court of Jigawa’s ruling and maintained that determining who should be acting national chairman is an internal party matter and cannot be adjudicated in court.
Omotosho stated that there is evidently no Supreme Court order acknowledging Chief Edozie Njoku as the party’s chairman, making it puzzling how the first defendant could assert that their action was based on an alleged court order.
