Nigeria: APGA Crisis - Why We're Yet to Take Over Secretariat Despite Supreme Court Verdict - Njoku

The Supreme Court delivered a judgement on 24 March affirming Mr Njoku as the authentic national chairman of the APGA.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Edozie Njoku, says he will be taking over the national secretariat of the party now that the certified true copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgement on the leadership tussle has been released.

Mr Njoku, who was recently reinstated by the Supreme Court as the national chairman of APGA, stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

He said he will be taking over the secretariat from Victor Oye's led faction.

Supreme Court had delivered a judgement on 24 March affirming Mr Njoku as the authentic national chairman of the opposition party.

The CTC was released on 29 March.

Background

The APGA leadership tussle between Messrs Njoku and Oye began in 2019.

That year, Mr Oye was elected for a second term at a national convention in Akwa, Anambra State.

However, another group led by Mr Njoku organised a parallel convention in Owerri, Imo State, where he was elected as national chairman. Since then, the duo has been in and out of court.

In 2022, a verdict by the Supreme Court further exacerbated the crisis due to an error that referred "Oye" instead of "Njoku" in the judgement.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the police had arraigned Mr Njoku before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, alleging that he forged a judgement of the Supreme Court.

Mr Njoku subsequently approached Supreme Court for clarification on the judgement.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, said on Friday that it made a mistake in a judgement it delivered in 2021, where the court erroneously wrote the name of Victor Oye as APGA national chairman.

The Supreme Court subsequently declared Mr Njoku was the substantive national chairman of the party.

I will take over the party

Mr Njoku said the judgement by the Supreme Court has settled every dispute on the leadership of the party, and they can now focus on taking over the party.

He said he refused to take over the secretariat because he was waiting for the Certified True Copy of the judgement.

"I have had calls to take thugs and policemen to go and invade the party office but I will not operate at that level of gutter. Things will be done properly.

"Nigeria is not a banana republic. We are not baboons. There is always a process to things. A judgment came out yesterday, the certified true copy came out literally this morning," he said.

Mr Njoku added that INEC will also be availed the Certified True Copy of the judgement to ensure a seamless transition.

"The CTCs were released yesterday. Before the end of tomorrow, INEC will be served. You can't be talking to INEC without the documents.

"If you are going to the police, you have to serve them, if INEC is going to respond to you, you have to serve them, they have to read it to respond.

"The Supreme Court has given us a major ammunition; from the back channels, INEC has said we should send the copy and they will respond," he said.

We must reconcile

Mr Njoku also called on aggrieved members of the party to embrace reconciliation in the interest of the party.

"I call on Oye again, all the former members of NWC, all the people in the wards, local governments, let us unite and move this beautiful party forward.

"APGA needs to reconcile. We are facing reconciliation. There are three elections coming up in a twinkle of an eye in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States. A timetable is going to be reeled out tomorrow and we are now going to work hard to see how we can get our act together. So, whosoever has been offended or hurt in the process, don't take it out on APGA," he said.

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